Bulgarian Vice-Min of Culture Mysteriously Sacked

Bulgarian deputy Minister of Culture Dimitar Dereliev, who was fired by PM Boyko Borisov Saturday. Photo by the Council of Ministers.

Bulgarian deputy Minister of Culture Dimitar Dereliev has been fired Saturday, announced PM Boyko Borisov at a tennis match he was participating in.

Borisov did not give particular reasons for his decision, saying only that Dereliev has been mismanaging his work and creating conflicts with persons the Ministry is dealing with.

The Ministry of Culture has been recently involved in a string of controversial events, including the questions about the degree of support for the movie "Goodbye Mamma" by Bulgarian-Italian actor and director Michelle Bonev that received a fabricated awart at the Venice Film Festival.

The Ministry has been having embittered relations with Bulgarian filmmakers during the whole of 2010 because of refusing to pay funds due from the state to support cinema.

For 2011, even less funds for film are previewed, and filmmakers have been making strong demands for a change in that policy to PM Boyko Borisov.

Filmmakers have requested the resignation of both Minister of Culture Vezhdi Rashidov and his deputy Dimitar Dereliev.

It is not clear whether Dereliev's ousting is just scapegoating him instead of Rashidov and whether an actual change in policy on the part of Borisov's center-right GERB cabinet will occur.

At any rate, Dereliev's removal comes after Saturday morning PM Borisov met with representatives of filmmakers to discuss their problems.

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