The government is going ahead with the closure of 20 state agencies, Deputy Prime
Minister and Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin told the press here Monday. He added that between 700 and 800 staff in the state administration will be made redundant, BTA is reporting.

The government has done an analysis of 39 agencies with a view to optimizing the state administration, and found that in some cases the responsibilities overlap. The windup of the agencies does not mean that their work would remain undone: it will be taken over by the competent departments of the minisrties, Kalfin explained. He mentioned as an example the upcoming merger of the agencies for privatization and for post-privatization control.

The cutdowns will affect mostly the agencies under the Ministries of Economy and Energy, of Defence, and of Agriculture and Foods. The Defence Ministry will keep only one agency. Kalfin also mentioned by way of example the closing of the Rousse and Plovdiv state laboratories for farm equipment control and the takeover of their responsibilities by a department of the Agriculture Ministry.

A real optimization of the state administration should continue with the windup of more agencies but it would be left to the next government to do as it requires changes in several laws, Kalfin explained.