Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova is to request a new update of the budget of the Ministry for 2015, seeking to cover additional expenses amounting to BGN 21 330 000.

The extra costs involve obligations to pay benefits to former employees due under the Interior Ministry Act and the Labor Code.

The liabilities of the Interior Ministry amounting to BGN 21 330 000 were accumulated by August 31, 2015, according to reports of the BGNES news agency.

The Interior Ministry and the Defence Ministry were revealed in mid-September to be the ministries with the largest H1, 2015 debts.

The Defense Ministry’s arrears by end-June 2015 were calculated at BGN 108.1 M, up by BGN 11.6 M from end-2014, while the Interior Ministry reported arrears of BGN 44.4 M, up by BGN 41.1 M from end-2014.

The annual budget of the Interior Ministry amounts to over BGN 1 M and 90% of it goes to the maintenance of a total of 47 000 employees.

In August 2015 Bachvarova sought an additional BGN 16 M for benefit payments but Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov effused to allocate the requested sum to the Interior Ministry.

Nearly 1000 former employees of the Interior Ministry have initiated lawsuits over unpaid benefits.

If the sum of BGN 21 330 000 is allocated to the Interior Ministry, it will be distributed as follows: BGN 14.3 M for police officers, BGN 1.63 M for border police officers, BGN 3.6 M for firefighters and rescue staff and BGN 1.721 M for administrative and managerial staff.