Bulgaria to reduce state administration by 15% next year, 30,000 jobs to go

State administration in Bulgaria will be reduced by 15% by the end of 2022, Asen Vassilev, co-chairman of the coalition “Continuing Change”, announced on Sunday. The move could see around 30,000 people lose their jobs.

Vassilev will likely be elected deputy prime minister and finance minister in the new government, pending approval of the draft coalition agreement on Tuesday.

The political formations in the ruling coalition are “The Change Continues”, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, “There is such a people” and “Democratic Bulgaria”.

“From the outside, it seemed easy how we reached an agreement, but in fact, it was not so easy. There were 20% differences (between parties) that required concessions. Nobody wants a fourth election (in one year), and so reasonable concessions were made to understand policies and the structure of the Council of Ministers, ” Asen Vassilev told BTV.

He announced that the four parties in the future coalition have agreed that there should be a 15% reduction in the state administration by the end of 2022.

Currently, there are 250,000 people or 10% of the country’s total workforce employed in state administration. Therefore,  some 30,000 people will be fired. Retired people who continue to hold positions in the state administration will be the first to go and are likely to account for the most layoffs.

(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)