Bulgaria's Socialist Opposition Demands Resignation of Interior Minister

The largest opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) demanded the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova on Thursday.

The Socialists called on Bachvarova and the political leadership of the interior ministry to resign due to their failure to deal with both domestic and organised crime.

According to BSP, the only positive step which could be taken to end the critical state of the interior ministry was the resignation of its political leadership.

In the opinion of the Socialists, the high domestic crime rate is due to the poverty of large part of the population, which in turn has been caused by the anti-social policies of the main ruling party GERB.

This has resulted in lack of control and lawlessness in small settlements where the unemployment rate is almost 100 %.

BSP was also critical of the interior ministry's inability to counter domestic crime due to the argument that it can not deploy police officers to each settlement.

Pointing to the shooting targeting drug lord Dimitar Zhelyazkov in the Black Sea resort of Sunny Beach earlier in June, the Socialists added that in the past weeks the interior ministry has also demonstrated inability to tackle organised crime.

The shooting claimed the life of one of Zhelyazkov's bodyguards and left several, including Zhelyazkov himself, heavily injured.

On Tuesday, BSP demanded the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Meglena Kuneva.

The Socialists called on Kuneva to resign due to the failure of the education reform and the recent scandal with the promised 10 % increase of teachers' salaries in 2017.

At a national teachers' council on Sunday, Kuneva said that starting from 1 January 2017 the salaries of teachers are expected to increase by 10 %.

On Monday, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov stated that the 10 % increase had not been discussed neither with him nor with Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov. Later on Monday, the finance ministry reaffirmed the words of Borisov, saying that it had made no plans for such increase.

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