Bulgaria Axes Minister without Portfolio Post

Domestic | February 3, 2011, Thursday // 16:53|  views

The functions of the Minister without Portfolio, who has been responsible for the Bulgarian communities abroad, could be taken over by another member of the cabinet. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Bulgaria's government has officially removed the post Minister without Portfolio following the resignation of Bozhidar Dimitrov, who stepped down at the end of last year for having links with the Soviet-era secret police.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has explained that the functions of the Minister without Portfolio, who has been responsible for the Bulgarian communities abroad, could be taken over by another member of the cabinet.

Bozhidar Dimitrov resigned December 19 after the government set out to recall senior diplomats in foreign posts who served as secret police agents before the collapse of communism.

The revelations caused a political turmoil in Bulgaria, as Prime Minister Boyko Borisov firmly pledged to fire the discredited diplomats, while President Georgi Parvanov opposed this option.

Almost half of Bulgaria's ambassadors and consuls provided information to communist secret services before the fall of the regime in 1990, according to data released by the committee overseeing secret records.

The former agents also include Bulgaria's current ambassadors to neighbouring Turkey, Greece and Romania, as well as its representatives in Moscow, Geneva, Beijing, Tokyo, at the Vatican and the United Nations.

The quota of informants in the diplomatic service appears to have been much higher than in other areas - such as politics and the media, where about 10 per cent of all employees served as agents.

The recall can be done only by a decree signed by President Parvanov, who himself was also exposed in 2006 as a former State Security agent, working under the alias Gotse.

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Tags: Bulgaria, government, Minister without Portfolio, agents, collaborators, State Security, communist, Ambassadors, Nikolay Mladenov, citizenship, Boyko Borisov, Simeon Djankov, Diaspora Minister, Bozhidar Dimitrov, Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov

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