We will continue to push for salaries in the Ministry of Interior to be updated, said Interior Minister Daniel Mitov Monday in Svilengrad, Southern Bulgaria. An agreement was signed there to launch a joint contingent from Bulgaria, Austria, Romania and Hungary to guard the Bulgarian-Turkish border.
According to Mitov, the salary increase in the Interior Ministry is not a privilege but is actually overdue. "If we want people in the security sector to work with confidence, self-esteem and peace of mind, their salaries must be updated as the law stipulates", he said. "I am hopeful that the majority in the National Assembly will support the draft increase in salaries in the Ministry of Interior", he said.
Asked about reforms and expected optimization in the Interior Ministry, Daniel Mitov pointed out that between 2009 and 2024, a total of 15,000 staff positions have been cut, while at the same time responsibilities in the Interior Ministry have not been reduced, but new ones have been added. The Minister pointed out that optimization should be implemented only after a sober assessment.
He stressed that currently there are about 50,000 employees in the Interior Ministry system and pointed out that he has already requested a report on the number of people of retirement age, still serving in the Ministry. "From what I know so far is that these people are in key positions and other people should be gradually prepared to fill them", the minister added. According to him, the Interior Ministry is functioning at the edge of its capacity in terms of the responsibilities assigned to it. "Whatever happens, it is the Interior Ministry is sought - for an opinion, for a reaction or for an inspection, and this is not a job that can be done without people", Mitov stressed.
Regarding the appointment of a Deputy Interior Minister and the appointment of a secretary general, Daniel Mitov said that they will be appointed after the decisions of the Council for joint management.
Asked whether there were lists of suspicious websites in connection with the distribution and sale of vapes, the Interior Minister said that the Directorate General for Combating Organized Crime (DGCOC) had been working on the issue for a long time and some websites had already been blocked. "A lot of work is being done to find out where some of the sites are located, to compile a list and in each case to find a way to keep such substances from outside Bulgaria. The big problem, however, is that there are already people mixing up similar substances here. They have already been caught and will be announced," Minister Mitov said, adding that an action plan on the issue will be presented to Parliament and the President. Earlier in the day, President Rumen Radev announced that he will convene the Consultative Council for National Security on February 18 to discuss risks and threats to national security arising from the spread of narcotics and intoxicants among the younger generation and their abuse.
