Bulgarian police officers and firefighters have readiness to stage a national protest if no compromise is reached on the proposed amendments to the Interior Ministry Act between the first and second reading of the draft in parliament.

This was stated by the trade unions of interior ministry officials and firefighters after the meeting of the national council for trilateral cooperation on Monday.

Among the topics discussed by the council, which brings together representatives of the government, trade unions and employers' organisations, were the draft amendments to the Interior Ministry Act.

Trade unions demanded for review of the proposed decrease in the number of days of annual paid leave to which police officers are entitled and the compensations paid upon retirement.

Employers' organisations reminded that Bulgaria has the second highest security expenditures as percentage of GDP and said that they would support reforms going even further.

The draft amendments are proposing to decrease the paid annual leave by five days and to cut the number of salaries paid upon retirement from twenty to twelve for newly appointed officials.

Trade unions are proposing a debate on cutting the additional twelve-day holiday to which interior ministry officials are entitled, but not the regular one.

The draft amendments were rejected by the parliamentary internal security and public order committee last week.

Over the weekend, Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova said she will not back down from carrying out the reform at the ministry, while Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva assured that the draft amendments will be discussed in the plenary chamber despite their rejection in the committee.

This will be the second attempt of Bachvarova to reform the interior ministry after proposed cuts to the social benefits and remuneration of the ministry's officials caused large-scale police protests in November last year.

As a result, the government conceded to the demands of the protesters and withdrew the controversial proposals.

Since then police officers have maintained readiness to protest as according to them the new proposals do not radically differ from the earlier ones.

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