Bulgarian Prime Minister Gives One-Month Ultimatum to Road Safety Authorities

Prime Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov has given a one-month deadline to the Traffic Police, Toll Management, and the State Agency for Road Safety to improve road control measures—or face restructuring. Speaking ahead of today’s Cabinet meeting, Zhelyazkov said that the results of their efforts must be visible to the public.

The task of coordinating the effort has been assigned to Deputy Prime Minister Grozdan Karadzhov.

“Road control authorities should ensure safety. The recent road accidents reveal a reactive and uncoordinated approach,” Zhelyazkov commented. He has issued three key tasks to the responsible institutions:

• A meeting of the regional directorates of the Ministry of Interior will be held on Friday to identify measures;
• The work of the road safety coordination centre should be restored within a period of one month;
• Measures should be identified to improve the functioning of this same centre.

Before the Council of Ministers meeting on 28 May, the Prime Minister held consultations with representatives of the National Revenue Agency (NRA) and the Ministry of Interior.

He stressed his hope that the ultimatum would trigger the administration’s instinct for self-preservation and drive meaningful action.