Do We Need This MoI?
RiskMonitor held a discussion at The Red House on June 10th titled "Do We Need this MoI?". Panelists were Ivanka Ivanova, Vesselin Metodiev and Yovo Nikolov. Albena Stambolova moderated the discussion.
The tragedy which occurred in Lyaskovets in March – one member of the elite forces killed and three inured - showed once again that there is something inherently and fundamentally wrong with the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior. Government’s attempts to trivialize the fatal chain of events by labelling it an outcome of the minimal risk that any special operation carries, was not received well by the public: especially given the fact that the mission was carried out well within protocol. Naturally, the blame was placed on low-level police operatives, while higher administration laid low until the story blew over. The Ministry of Interior is very poorly managed in general. Bulgaria ranks 8th in the world in terms of policemen per capita, the Ministry employs at least 65 000 people, maybe more. Scandals generated by the Department for Combating Organized Crime, the use of Special Investigation Methods and the like are constant. Will the new bill for the Ministry, which is in the process of being passed by Parliament, going to change anything? The discussion will look into the particular reasons that led to the tragic incident in Lyaskovets, the systematic problems of the Ministry and what changes could be expected if the new bill passes.
Please follow the link for audio (in Bulgarian)