Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev shuts down €3.7 million ‘parasitic’ unit

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev ordered the closure of a special unit within Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior, describing it as a “parasitic” structure. The unit, known internally as the “isolator,” employed 46 staff members across six ministries and incurred more than €3.7 million in salary costs.

Demerdzhiev issued the shutdown order on 3 July, mandating that the unit be dissolved within a month. He said the employees had lost the trust of ministry leadership and were receiving unusually high salaries, and that they would be reassigned individually to suitable posts. The ministry answered media inquiries under the Access to Public Information Law but declined to disclose staff names, citing privacy concerns. While officials claim the unit was created to support the ministry’s leadership with expert input, the minister’s statements suggest its functions were limited and its budget wasteful.