Bulgarian Nationalist Demands Interior Ministry for Backing Govt

Bulgarian nationalist leader Volen Siderov has laid claim to the Interior Ministry in exchange for parliamentary support for the government. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian nationalist party Ataka has suggested to take over control of the Interior Ministry.

"We have very well-prepared people. In fact, I think they owe us that. After all, they could give us a ministry in exchange for two years of selfless support", Ataka leader Volen Siderov said Thursday in an interview for the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA).

"Ataka has shown consistency in the fight against crime and corruption. We know how to make the Interior Ministry and the police work for the security of citizens not for the security of Kiril Rashkov", Siderov assured, making a reference to the notorious Roma boss Tsar Kiro.

Rashkov, whose clan's impunity triggered unprecedented protests across the country over the last few days, is pending charges of large-scale tax evasion.

He will be held accountable for tax crimes amounting to at least BGN 6 M only from his alcohol production and trade business, according to local media reports.

Believed to be one of the richest men in Bulgaria, who piled up his huge wealth thanks to unscrupulous trade in bootleg alcohol and votes, Rashkov has denied any wrongdoing.

Earlier in the week the authorities froze all assets, real estate and stakes in companies owned by Rashkov, who is also believed to be the mastermind of a murder of a nineteen-year-old boy.

The teenager Angel Petrov was struck and killed in the village of Katunitsa by a mini-bus driver linked to the controversial local Roma leader, triggering a wave of protests and fueling ethnic tensions.

In the beginning of the GERB government's term in office, it enjoyed the support of nationalist Ataka, the right-wing Blue Coalition and the marginal conservative Law, Order, Justice, RZS, party.

Later on, the Blue Coalition and RZS withdrew their support for the Borisov Cabinet, leaving Ataka as their sole ally.

The ruling center-right party, which has117 out of a total of 240 MPs, is not fully dependent on Ataka because it enjoys the backing of a dozen of renegade MPs who left the ranks of their parties in the past two years.

Ataka used to win praise from Prime Minister Borisov for not seeking anything in return for its cooperativeness in Parliament.

The trend was reversed Thursday, when Siderov asked for control over the Interior Ministry.

Siderov said that in an interview given shortly after an outburst in the morning broadcast of private TV channel bTV.

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