Bulgaria Interior Minister Supports Police Demands

Bulgaria Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov says he agrees with most of the demands made by his protesting employees. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has reiterated his support for his ministerial employees'demands.

Tsvetanov said that the most significant issue was demands by police officers that their social resources should not be denied.

Speaking on Saturday in a bTV interview, the Interior Minister pointed out that police officers and their union representatives had put the emphasis on material resources that could be provided in the short term to enable them the better to perform their daily duties: newer equipment, more fuel for patrol cars, and an improved physical work environment, for example.

"I stand by most of their demands and we know what their problems are. They have been collected and accumulated in the years," the Minister said.

"What I did today was to go to the protest, to meet and to have talks with police officers," the Minister explained. "From the talks we had, it became clear that they have no pretensions on what the state could afford today, because they know very well the situation in which the state finds itself," he added.

Tsvetanov also voiced some criticism of the trades unions. "The more worrying for me is the fact that words said by the unionists... included political rhetoric. In my opinion this is inadmissible," the Interior Prime Minister said.

He added that he would spend more time in April in visiting the regional directorates of the Interior Ministry, to talk with his police officers and explain fully what was being done on their behalf.

Tsvetanov met with a mixed reception earlier on Saturday when he turned up at a police protest rally in the capital, Sofia. He was hissed and booed, and not allowed to make any public comments.

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