BULGARIA:BULGARIA'S PRIME minister Sergei Stanishev is poised to reshuffle his cabinet after interior minister Rumen Petkov resigned following a string of crime and corruption revelations.
Mr Petkov stepped down just days after the government survived a no-confidence vote prompted by opposition anger at the exposure of high-level links between the interior ministry and the world of crime, and the latest in a long series of lurid mafia murders.
The Socialist-led government must boost its crime-fighting credentials to stand a chance of re- election next year, and Bulgaria could face EU sanctions if it fares badly in a forthcoming report on graft and criminality.
"It is not a sign of weakness or a giving in to pressure . . . I am resigning to allow for a better state," Mr Petkov said, before admitting that he was "responsible for some appointments in the ministry through which I misled the leadership of the country."
That was an apparent reference to a top anti-corruption officer and a senior interior ministry official who were arrested last month and accused of passing information to suspected criminals.
The European Commission called for "urgent action" last week after Georgy Stoyev, a prominent writer on mafia matters, and Borislav Georgiyev, the head of a large energy firm, were shot dead in apparent contract killings.
In his last TV appearance, Mr Stoyev requested police protection to testify against the mafia and said criminal bosses were being shielded by senior politicians.
Mr Stanishev has promised a "thorough reshuffle" of his cabinet, but few Bulgarians expect rapid gains in the fight against organised crime: successive governments have not charged any top officials with graft or convicted anyone over more than 150 high-profile murders this decade.
