Bulgaria’s caretaker Interior Minister replaces National Police chief

In the latest of a series of senior personnel changes made by Bulgaria’s interim government since taking office on May 12, caretaker Interior Minister Boiko Rashkov replaced the head of the National Police general directorate on June 8.

Rashkov replaced Nikolai Hadzhiev, who had been appointed to the post in September 2020, with Chief Commissioner Stanimir Stanev, until now the deputy director of the regional directorate of the Interior Ministry in Kurdzhali.

An Interior Ministry media statement aid that Hadzhiev had been “re-appointed to another position in the system of the Interior Ministry”.

Stanev joined the Interior Minister in September 1992 and held a number of senior positions before his current appointment.

In mid-May, acting on the recommendation of the caretaker government, Bulgarian President Roumen Radev dismissed Interior Ministry chief secretary Ivailo Ivanov.

There have been a number of replacements in various senior police posts, including the appointment on June 2 of a new head of Bulgaria’s Border Police.

Other changes made by the Stefan Yanev caretaker cabinet have included the replacement of the heads of the National Revenue Agency and Customs Agency, while on May 26, acting on the recommendation of the caretaker government, Radev fired Dimitar Georgiev as the head of the State Agency for National Security.

The caretaker government also replaced all 28 district governors. Previous interim administrations also had made changes to district governors after taking office, but so far none had replaced all of them.

On June 8, Regional Development Minister Violeta Komitova appointed a new board of directors at state-owned road construction firm Avtomagistrali. The ministry said in a statement that the previous directors were “relieved of duties” based on “irregularities” found by National Audit Office investigation.

Please support independent journalism by clicking on the orange button below. For as little as three euro a month or the equivalent in other currencies, you can support The Sofia Globe via patreon.com:

Become a Patron!

The Sofia Globe staff

The Sofia Globe - the Sofia-based fully independent English-language news and features website, covering Bulgaria, the Balkans and the EU. Sign up to subscribe to sofiaglobe.com's daily bulletin through the form on our homepage. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=32709292