Pressure Piles on Bulgaria's Defiant Disaster Management Min

Politics | January 7, 2008, Monday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Pressure Piles on Bulgaria's Defiant Disaster Management Min Bulgaria's Disaster Management Minister Emel Etem came under fire for boycotting cleaning efforts after heavy snowfalls threw the country into chaos. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)

Authorities in three Bulgarian districts, which were among the worst-hit in last week's blizzards, have called for the resignation of Disaster Management Minister Emel Etem, saying she should bear the brunt for the snow crisis that brought the country to a standstill.

The call was first voiced by members of the unit of the right-wing hardliners of former Prime Minister Ivan Kostov in the Danube town of Russe, which remained under a state of emergency for nearly a week.

"Emel Etem failed to cope with the raging fires last year, failed when the floods hit in the town of Tsar Kaloyan and now, when a new disaster struck, she was again vacationing," the leader of DSB-Russe Teodora Konstantinova said.

The rightists insist that Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev dismiss the ethnic Turk minister in case she refuses to quit office at her own will.

Yordan Lechkov, the famous football player and mayor of the town of Sliven, southeastern Bulgaria, took a similar stand.

"The prime minister should face the music if Minister Etem is not doing her job properly," Lechkov said, adding it is a disgrace for her to be on a holiday while people are struggling with blizzards.

The choir of grumbling voices was soon joined by the Bulgarian Agriculture People's Union, who accused Minister Emel Etem of incompetence and criminal nonchalance.

The party said that the lack of coordination with the other institutions gives them good reason to press for the resignation of Minister Emel Etem.

Tension has been escalating since January 2, when heavy snowfalls cut-off electricity, snowed in roads and stranded thousands passengers.

Hours after the heavy snowfalls paralysed the country the Disaster Management Ministry issued a statement, saying it is its responsibility to rescue stranded people, but not to clean roads.

Hundreds of people stuck in the snow along Bulgaria's roads, however, complained they were abandoned for hours in the freezing cold.

Approached for comment two days later, Minister Etem was quick to blame "other institutions and the passengers themselves", while holidaying in an unnamed luxurious resort.

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