Bulgarian interior minister resigns amid corruption scandal
SOFIA (AFP) — Bulgaria's influential Interior Minister Rumen Petkov resigned Sunday amid a snowballing corruption scandal that exposed links between top crime-busters and suspected criminals.
Petkov, whose personal poll ratings have plummeted in recent weeks, announced his decision at a press conference in Sofia.
The BTA news agency cited Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev as telling journalists at a separate briefing that the resignation had been accepted and would lead to a "complete reshuffle" of the government.
Petkov's decision to stand down was "normal, logical and dignified," Stanishev said, adding that he needed "a strong cabinet that has the clear and powerful support of parliament."
But political scientist Kolyo Kolyev told AFP he did not expect a major reshuffle.
"The key to this reshuffle will be Petkov's replacement," he said.
"The end of this crisis will be good for the country as its image has been tarnished."
Petkov insisted that his resignation was "not a sign of weakness, or yielding to pressure," but rather a necessary step to reforming his ministry.
The backdrop to the announcement was a far-reaching corruption scandal and two execution-style killings in Sofia that seriously shook Stanishev's centre-left coalition and prompted calls for "urgent action" by the European Union.
The saga began in mid-March when tapped telephone calls revealed that high-ranking interior ministry officials had scuppered a number of police operations by leaking information to key criminals under investigation.
A top crime-busting chief and a former ministry chief of staff were arrested and charged following the revelations.
The ministry's current chief of staff was also placed on leave, and Petkov himself came under fire after admitting to having contacts with key organised crime suspects.
He had initially refused to resign and was backed by the three-party coalition after promising sweeping changes at the ministry's unit for fighting organised crime and the strengthening of controls over the use of bugging devices.
But a recent poll from the Alpha research institute showed that support for Petkov remaining in office was down to just nine percent.
The two execution-style killings last week sparked vehement criticism from the European Union and put further pressure on the government.
Georgy Stoyev, who had written nine books on the Bulgarian mafia, was shot in the head on Monday outside a central Sofia hotel. The night before, Borislav Georgiev, the chief executive of a large energy company, was killed in his apartment building with two bullets to the head.
In his last televised appearance on March 29, Stoyev had requested protection to testify against the mafia and said there was "beyond all doubt" a high-level political umbrella over the underworld.
Following the killings, the European Commission said "urgent action is required" in fighting organised crime in Bulgaria.
The government faced a no-confidence vote in parliament Friday over opposition accusations of colluding with organised crime.
It survived, but the vote divided the three-party ruling coalition as the centrist National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) chose to abstain.
Bulgaria, along with neighbouring Romania, joined the European Union last year as its poorest member but is still under close scrutiny from Brussels for failing to meet its pledges in the fight against corruption and organised crime.
The European Commission is due to issue its next monitoring report on Bulgaria's progress in both areas in July. The EU has already partly frozen at least 450 million euros in subsidy payments.
On Sunday Petkov said his resignation "will open the path to positive solutions for Bulgaria... and meet the expectations for a better future inside the European Union."
