Behind the ridiculous battle for Kalin's post Stoyanov hardly stands alone in the conviction of his supporters that he is the best of all possible ministers and is irreplaceable. And there are apparently other lieutenants of Peevski in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Sofia and around the country protested in defense of their minister, Kalin Stoyanov – with uniforms and patrols. This is not a legitimate protest, because according to the Law on the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a protest is permissible only for the realization of their socio-economic rights and interests, and only through their legitimate trade union organizations. It is no coincidence that the largest trade union organization in the system – SFS Ministry of Internal Affairs, distanced itself from the protest, but through its deputy chairman Iliya Khrisimov “showed understanding” to colleagues: “We are not saying that we are defending the minister, we are reacting against attempts to use the ministry politically”.
Police officers allow themselves political judgments and actions
But how do protesters judge what is political use without that judgment and the actions based on it being non-political? Well, if the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs judged for themselves what constitutes interference in their work and what their work is in general, we would be a police state.
It is no coincidence that Art. 146, para. 3 of the Law on the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Bulgaria prohibits any form of political thinking and action by those working in the system: “Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs may not be members of political parties, carry out political activities, express political views, as well as undertake other actions service that violates their political neutrality”. And a public action by Ministry of Internal Affairs officials in defense of the minister is precisely a political activity, because the minister is not an employee like them, even if he professionally comes from their circles – it is a political appointment to which they cannot have anything to do.
Kalin Stoyanov politicizes the Ministry of Internal Affairs
What's more, Kalin Stoyanov himself politicized the protest by making vivid political statements, even though he is part of a cabinet. In his capacity as a minister, he went to the protest, declaring himself a defender of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from political use, while he himself used frank political attacks against a political formation - PP-DB, which has long insisted that he should not be a minister: “We witnessed this how certain failed politicians are desperately looking for an option to find an ala-bala minister who will assist them in returning the lost approximately 300,000 votes in the last elections".
It is not even important in this case who is right – or PP-DB, who claim that the minister is covering up the DPS, by not opposing the bought and controlled vote in the previous elections, and therefore they insist that he not remain for the October elections, so that Delyan Peevski does not receive an advance again. Or Kalin Stoyanov is right that they simply don't want him, because of whatever “ala-bala“ reasons.
Kozhareva and Radev decide who will be the minister
One thing is perfectly clear – that neither Stoyanov nor those who protested in his defense have a legal right to claim that he should remain in his post. Because who will be the minister of the interior is decided by the nominee for prime minister, Gorica Grancharova-Kozhareva, and the president, who will issue the decree for the new cabinet, has the final word. Stoyanov's claim that politicians are putting brutal pressure on the prime minister candidate to no longer be a minister is ridiculous, because with the changes in the Constitution, the parliamentary parties have the right to vote in the formation of the caretaker government through consultations with the president. And at the consultations held with Rumen Radev last week, PP-DB quite openly and legitimately stated that they do not want Stoyanov to be a minister again.
On the other hand, with his political statements and with the protest organized in his support, Kalin Stoyanov exerts completely illegitimate pressure on the official candidate-prime minister, because the law does not give him and his employees the right to have any say in the composition of the government.
There are other lieutenants of Peevski in the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Behind the battle for the position of the minister is hardly the only conviction of his supporters and of Stoyanov himself that he is the best of all possible ministers and is irreplaceable. There have been public allegations about organizers and ways of organizing the protest, which testify to other motivations and addictions. In any case, the problem will be resolved within days with the announcement of the new candidate for interior minister, who will certainly not be named Kalin Stoyanov. Because it is already absurd that this person is the stumbling block for another cabinet - they couldn't remove him from the regular "Denkov" cabinet, now they can't from the next official one, it exceeds the limits of what can be tolerated even in conditions of political crisis.
If the prime ministerial candidate Grancharova leaves him on her list, she will be completely dependent on Stoyanov. If the president does not reject his appointment, as he already did with Glavchev's foreign minister candidate – Daniel Mitov, will show an even more unbearable dependence. Even if Stoyanov is an avatar of Peevski himself, there cannot be such political suicides, especially when it comes to the head of state. And if Peevski's influence is really all-powerful, the most convenient option for the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is to appoint another of his “lieutenant” – there are certainly more in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is too optimistic to expect the department to be headed by a person who will have the ambition, freedom and capacity (at the same time, an otherwise completely depoliticized Ministry of Internal Affairs) to seriously attack the vote buyers.
This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and of DV as a whole.