A real storm was unleashed by the recent appointments in the Ministry of Transport and Captain Daniel Papazov will hardly find it easy to deal with the consequences. The name of his first deputy – Petar Kirov incited a riot in the Association for Qualification of the Motorists and the Union for Automotive Training, which threatened to block road if he remains in office. The reason, as the BANKER weekly wrote last week, was that Petar Kirov is the son of Volodya Kirov – a former Director of the Executive Agency Automobile Administration, released after a brawl related to selling of driving licenses and the current head of the training centre of the transport ministry’s system.
The newly appointed Deputy Minister said publicly that since he was invited to take the position, it has not even come into question that he might be in charge of a sector related to the automotive business. He would deal with the management of the Transport operational programme and the international activities of the ministry. Father – Volodya Kirov – also spoke for one of the national television channels, saying accusations against him were outright slander.
The mess was complete when several news sites circulated the words of Minister Papazov that his deputy Peter Kirov appointed by him had a personal recommendation by the Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn. Reaction from Brussels was instantaneous: I would like to state as strongly as possible that I have never met this man. I have no influence on any national political appointments nor would I try to seek such influence. If the transport minister was quoted correctly, I expect immediate apology, said Hahn in a press release on Monday. Transport Ministry had hurriedly to polish the embarrassing situation, and the Minister acknowledged the gaffe and explained that a letter of apology for the misunderstanding has been sent to Mr. Hahn.
Among other previously known recruits to the team of Mr. Papazov is also the name of Nina Todorova who will be the chief of his political office. She is the wife of diplomat Lyubomir Todorov and held the same position in the Ministry of State Administration and Administrative Reform, when led by Nikolay Vassilev at the time of the ruling tripartite coalition. In the period 2010-2012 Todorova was deputy head of the executive agency for the promotion of small and medium-sized companies.
There will be changes in the structure of the ministry itself. Public discussion has already been launched in this respect. The new rules will supposedly provide for the pooling of the Concessions and Control over the activities of companies and state-owned enterprises departments. The goal is to achieve interdependence between the activities of the two departments, having in mind the fact that the sites under concession – railway stations, civil airports for public use and public transport ports, under the provisions of special laws, are managed by state-owned enterprises and trade companies, explained representatives of the ministry. This would lead to optimization of the performance of the employees as they will now have a look at not only the overall activity of the company or state enterprise, but also on the properties it manages, and thus be aware of the existing problems in its management.
A check with the administrative records shows that for the Concessions department now work 13 people, and in Control of the companies and state-owned enterprises – another 12 people. After the merger two positions are expected to be cut. One will be taken as responsibility by the key department National Transport Policy, which deals with the development of objectives and priorities in the development of the four modes of transport – air, rail, water and road.
The BANKER
