Interior Minister Mitov: Bulgaria Cannot Be Defined as Anything Else but Democracy with Its Own Problems

Risida Dimitrova, Nikolay Trifonov

Interior Minister Daniel Mitov at the Fortifying Freedom: Defence and Democracy Dialogue conference, Sofia, November 11, 2025 (BTA Photo/Milena Stoykova)

Sofia,

11.11.2025 14:31

(BTA)

Interior Minister Daniel Mitov said that Bulgaria cannot be defined as anything else but a democracy with its own problems. He participated in the Fortifying Freedom: Defence and Democracy Dialogue conference in Sofia on Tuesday. The forum was organized by the Centre for the Study of Democracy.

Mitov responded to a question from the audience about the most appropriate approach to ensuring institutional resilience to corruption as a function of state capture.

"I know that there is a part of the Bulgarian political environment that likes to think that Bulgaria is a captured state," Mitov said. "They would like to convince themselves that this is the case. But let us review the definition of state capture. According to political science and the World Bank, this is the systematic undermining of the decision-making process in the state by private or foreign interests. The institutions formally exist, but informally are controlled, but again, I repeat, by private interests," Mitov said.

"Quite often, those who claim that Bulgaria is a captured state do not take into account that they mention political parties or political leaders as those who have captured the state. There are elections in Bulgaria. Elections in recent years have been won by different political parties. Power has changed. Governments have changed peacefully," Mitov said.

"We have also witnessed attempts to capture the state, but this was not something that was allowed. We have heard conversations at party meetings about how certain political parties dreamed of capturing the Interior Ministry, counterintelligence, intelligence, etc. This way of thinking may exist, but I do not believe that we can define Bulgaria as anything other than a democracy with its own problems," Mitov added. He warned against equating a democracy with its own problems and ways of development with a captured state.

/RD/