site.btaInterior Minister Not Yet Invited to Participate in Caretaker Government

Outgoing Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov said that so far he had not received an invitation to participate in Dimitar Glavchev's caretaker cabinet. Stoyanov told journalists in Belene that if he was approached by Glavchev, he would respond to the invitation.

"The only person I have spoken to who invited me to be part of the "Denkov cabinet" as interior minister, as an expert, is Mr Kiril Petkov," Stoyanov said in response to a journalist's question. Probably some people did not like the fact that for these nine months I did not politicize the system of the Interior Ministry and especially I did not allow anyone to order me who, when, where and in what position a certain person should be placed, the outgoing Minister added.

Regarding the work of the Interior Ministry on the organization of the upcoming elections, Kalin Stoyanov said that the Interior Ministry, is always ready to do its job, even if the elections are "two in one".

The outgoing minister also commented on the actions of the Interior Ministry in terms of reducing speeding offences. He said it was important that when offences were found, the offenders' penalties were collected. "In the Ministry, this has been brought forward as a priority, both with the secure electronic handover system and the roadside handover system," Stoyanov said. He added that the measures are already yielding results, with a 40% increase in fine collection compared to the same period last year.

"If we manage to collect the fines that have been imposed, I think that we will fight as quickly as possible the feeling of impunity of those offenders who have been on the road for many years," Kalin Stoyanov said. The Minister added that the Interior Ministry currently has a total of four public procurement contracts at different stages for the purchase of 273 speed control cameras, which will be distributed throughout the country.

Stoyanov also said that the Interior Ministry works in close cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor's Office. "There are many pre-trial proceedings that are actually investigated by officers from the National Police Directorate General or by officers from the Directorate General for Combating Organised Crime." In addition to the pre-trial proceedings, there are also preliminary investigations that are carried out on various cases." With regard to the investigation of the Zheleznitsa tunnel on the Struma motorway, the minister said that it is not right to give preliminary information about a pre-trial proceeding that is under investigation.

Kalin Stoyanov was in Belene for the inauguration of a district police station in the town, which was closed on 30 May 2022 and transformed into a police station by order of then Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov.