Should the increase in salaries in the Ministry of Interior remain? This question was commented on by Vasil Velev, Chairman of the Association of Bulgarian Interior Ministers and Vergil Hristov from the Board of Directors of the Ministry of Interior Ministers and Interior Ministers on the air of “Hello, Bulgaria” on Nova TV.
“Neither the budget can afford it, nor is it fair or honorable to claim the opposite”, said Vasil Velev. “And now for the “Public Order and Security” sector we pay the most for salaries in the entire EU, as a share of GDP. This is before the increase. And now we will increase these expenses by 50%. Obviously, something is wrong. Either there are a lot of people there, or their salaries are very high. It is impossible without reforming the system. The "Defense" sector and the judicial system are in a similar way, said Vasil Velev.
“Four years ago, when the then coalition with the PP-DB leading was being created, in one of the points in their management plan, a lot of things were written that were supposed to happen in the Ministry of Interior as a reform. Nothing happened. They just explained to us that they had done 98% reform with the closure of 10 departments and 14 police stations”, said Hristov. “We started to have a dialogue with all parties in parliament. It took us two years to convince them that a change was needed to provide stability to incomes and people,” continued Hristov.
He said he did not know how many working pensioners there were in the Ministry of Interior system.
“Currently, the unfilled staff in the lowest positions is 4,000. If we fire 5,000 pensioners, that’s 9,000 people. Or 20% of the Ministry of Interior staff,” explained Hristov. “What do you think of it at 1,466 leva?”, asked Hristov.
According to Vasil Velev, however, the staff is inflated and this problem is not only in the Ministry of Interior, but in the entire public sector. “Probably, the staff should be examined and whether it should be reduced, and seriously. People in the real sector should work a third more,” said Velev. And he commented on early retirement in the Ministry of Interior system, the longer leave, the higher class of service, the 20 salaries upon retirement. “Without trivializing the free public transport, holidays, food, clothes. So in fact the minimum salary in the system becomes 4,000 leva”, said Velev.
”We are not against the reform. We are against not receiving what we work for”, said Hristov. He emphasized that there are over 300 positions in the Ministry of Interior.
”We have an administration under the Civil Servants Act and colleagues working under an employment relationship. There are about 2,000 colleagues under the Civil Servants Act – nowhere is such an increase foreseen for them. Colleagues working under an employment relationship are in the registry offices, at the counters. For them, the increase is about 300 leva. "They are currently below the minimum wage. The most serious increase will be received by the people in the field," explained Hristov.