BULGARIA’S CARETAKER GOVERNMENT ASKED THE PRESIDENT TO DISMISS THE CHIEF SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

Bulgaria’s caretaker government requested from President Roumen Radev that the chief secretary of the Interior Ministry, Georgi Kostov, be dismissed from the post, the caretaker interior minister Plamen Uzunov said after a meeting of the cabinet on 22nd of February.

The motive of the government is that in the period 2015- 2016, Kostov was allegedly involved in exercising of political pressure to change five senior officials in the Ministry of Interior.

Several hours later Kostov described the motives for his removal as odd.

I think that the way in which unverified facts are interpreted and I would say they are false, bring destabilization in the system of the Ministry of Interior and result from some, if I may call them, irresponsible efforts, Kostov told BNT. In a face-to-face meeting, the caretaker interior minister told me he could work with me, but there was pressure from other leaders in the state - the Prime Minister. To a question by BNT if he meant the caretaker PM Gerdzhikov, Kostov replied “Yes”.