site.btaSofia Police Chief to Act as Interior Ministry Secretary General

Chief Commissioner Lyubomir Nikolov, Director of the Metropolitan Directorate of Interior, will be acting Secretary General of the Interior Ministry, Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told the media here on Tuesday.

"As soon as we get convinced of the best choice, there will also be a regular holder of the office," the Minister added. He noted that some of the sitting deputy chiefs will take over the Sofia Police. "We have enough officers who can assume the functions at a given time. We are trying to make the most appropriate choice in the situation," he went on to say.

The office of acting Secretary General was vacated on Monday when Chief Commissioner Georgi Kandev quit the Ministry.

Regarding Kandev's resignation, Demerdzhiev said on Tuesday that he had not any differences with him, and that Kandev did not indicate at all that there were any issues whatsoever and did not cite any sensible reasons for his decisions.

Asked about border control in response to migrant pressure, the Interior Minister pointed out: "Our task is to improve steadily border protection which, however, does not imply impeding the crossing [of the border], especially for Bulgarian citizens."