Comment by Emilia Milcheva:
Can an ordinary citizen obtain information about the remuneration of a certain senior inspector from the National Revenue Agency (NRA)? No. In Bulgaria, the salary and bonuses of the director of the NRA, Rumen Spetsov, were classified - the request for access to them was denied to the civil association BOETS, which requested it under the Freedom of Information Act.
But in the United States, as in other democracies, information about the remuneration of federal employees is not hidden. There is an online database that allows searching for the salaries of about 1.4 million federal employees by name, agency, position and location. Only employees of the CIA, FBI and security services are excluded - for understandable reasons.
Publicity of government salaries
Why is this information important? Because it is part of the transparency in the management of public funds, because it is about taxpayers' money and the corresponding public services - and their spending cannot be a secret. Moreover, in two years, the cost of budget-supported personnel has jumped by 5.6 billion leva - from 14.6 billion in 2022 to 20.2 billion in 2024. This is an even greater increase than that of pensions - from 15.7 billion to 21.8 billion leva. The increase in capital expenditures for the same period is insignificant - from 5.6 billion to 6.7 billion leva.
There is no conflict over these numbers - neither the ruling party nor the opposition dispute them, although they continue to accuse each other of how the path to the euro fell into the pit of deficits, that is, excessive spending.
During the period of skyrocketing personnel costs, two regular and several caretaker governments were in power. This means an army of advisors and senior civil servants - appointed for a while and then dismissed with good bonuses. Each of these cabinets changed regional administrations, leadership of directorates of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, along with the boards of state-owned companies and enterprises. However, the names of the advisors turn out to be strictly guarded personal data, as well as the salaries, some of which are speculated to exceed 5,000 leva.
For example, for 2022 alone under two governments - the regular cabinet of Kiril Petkov and the caretaker cabinet of Galab Donev, about 3.1 million leva in bonuses were distributed to those working in the Council of Ministers. Nearly 207 thousand leva of this amount or 6.7% went to the advisors in the political cabinets of the prime ministers and deputy prime ministers. But for 2023, 35 million leva in bonuses were distributed in the NRA system.
Is there political will for reform?
There is no political will to reduce the administration. The governing coalition is striving to avoid social tension and protests under its windows. Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev admitted that there are reserves for reducing staff and maintenance costs, but no real steps have been taken in this direction. Between 2022 and 2024, the maintenance costs of the administration have increased slightly – from 7.1 to 7.5 billion leva. At the same time, there are 12,007 vacant positions in the state administration, of which 5,421 have not been filled for more than six months. These positions continue to be financed from the budget, without knowing exactly how the funds are used. At the end of 2023, the total number of civil servants reaches 143,502 people, not including the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense.
One of the parties in "Democratic Bulgaria" - DSB, proposes a phased reduction of the administration by 15% over three years (5% per year). This proposal is not new - in 2022, the Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev stated that "We continue the change" had reached an agreement to cut 15% of the state administration, which is equivalent to 30,000 positions. The coalition collapsed in the middle of the year, and the plan had not even started.
The question is not limited to a reduction in civil servants, but also to how competent the remaining ones will be, what electronic services will be introduced and what opportunities artificial intelligence will offer for optimizing administrative processes.
The largest increases are in the "Security" sector
The largest increase in salaries in 2025 is in the "Security" sector. Salaries in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense will increase by over 50%. Additional funds will also be provided for the National Security Agency, intelligence, counterintelligence and the State Agency "Technical Operations", which is responsible for the use of special intelligence means. The two ministries will be allocated 2 billion leva per year, of which 1.3 billion are intended for the Ministry of Interior.
The public has the right to know how these millions are distributed before any reforms are carried out. There is currently no clear plan for structural changes in the system. Even the possible dismissal of working pensioners in the Ministry of Interior (between 5,000 and 6,000 people) cannot be called a reform.
One of the urgent changes in the Ministry of Interior should be to end the practice of reassigning employees who have committed a mistake to new positions instead of dismissing them. This would be a step in the right direction for reforming the system.
"Democratic Bulgaria", part of the PP-DB, proposes that the salary increase should cover only police officers in the field and firefighters, with their insurance payments starting to be paid in stages. The Ministry of Interior should also reduce its staff, which currently stands at 52,000 people – 2000 more than nine months ago, and also to begin phased payment of social security contributions by all civil servants.
Preserving the administration and gifts for restaurateurs
However, political decisions on the administrative reform depend not only on Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, but also on the honorary "prime minister" - the leader of GERB Boyko Borisov. He categorically opposes reducing the administration in 2025 because he does not want to risk public discontent, which would threaten his political ambitions.
In addition, Borisov insists on maintaining the reduced 9% VAT rate for the restaurant industry - a measure that will cost the budget over 350 million leva. The decision not to make cuts in the Ministry of Internal Affairs is also under his influence. Another "untouchable" follows the same line in government - the leader of "DPS - New Beginning" Delyan Peevski.
It is hard to believe that a coalition between GERB-SDF, BSP, “There is such a people” and DPS (of Dogan) will encroach on the army, officials and security structures. But they can start with real transparency, publishing the salaries in the executive branch, as well as publicly announcing the advisors and members of political cabinets on the websites of the departments. This would be a minimum requirement for accountability and responsibility to the citizens whose taxes pay them.