site.btaInterior Ministry Officers Confirm Protest Plans for Nov. 4 over 2016 Budget

Interior Ministry Officers Confirm Protest Plans for Nov. 4 over 2016 Budget

Sofia, November 3 (BTA) - The Interior Ministry officers confirmed their plans to protest November 4 over the 2016 budget for the Ministry. This transpired from remarks for the press by Galentin Grozev, one of the union leaders at the Interior Ministry following a meeting with Finance Minister Vladoslav Goranov and Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova on Tuesday.

The meeting came right after the Finance Ministry made public its plans for trimming some prerequisites available for Interior Ministry officers. These plans will be codified through the national budget act which was approved by the government on October 30. The part about the Interior Ministry budget was made public late on November 2.

It says that the Interior Ministry officers will not be paid extra for their years of service. They will be entitled to a 10-wage severance package - not 20 as at present, and the amount will not include the bonuses they get for work in specific work conditions. The paid leave entitlement drops to 20 days from 30 days and the holiday allowance gets reduced.

The transitional and final provisions of the National Budget Bill for 2016 makes identical changes in the rules for financing the other departments and organizations in the security sector, including the Defence Ministry and the State Agency for National Security.

The Interior Ministry union leader Grozev said that the unions were merely informed at the meeting with the two Ministers about the changes and the provisions in the 2016 national budget bill. No agreement was reached.

The Interior Ministry unions are hoping for a new meeting with the leaders of the two Ministries on Friday and next Monday. They will insist that the meeting be held in the presence of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, said Grozev.

He expects some 20,000 people to join the protests on Wednesday and support from the penitentiary officers and Defence Ministry employees.

The protests are scheduled to start at 18:00 hrs in Sofia, Pleven, Vratsa, Elhovo, Varna and Dobrich, and to continue for days.

The unions expect the Finance Minister to immediately pull out his proposal and only after that they will be ready for more talks.

Grozev said that failing to inform the Interior Ministry officers of the contemplated financial changes was a violation of the law. "Reforms at the Interior Ministry should be made one step at a time to avoid social disturbances," he said.

Last week, the Trade Union Federation of Interior Ministry Employees issued a statement saying that after a series of "reforms" - the quote mark used in original statement - the Interior Ministry and its employees are faced with the risk of being unable to perform their duties. It went on to say that this is exactly what happened with the Bulgarian armed forces "after decades of painful and murderous reforms".