Bulgaria's Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation (MIDT) will dismiss all staff who have reached retirement age. Minister Ivan Vasilev said this at a hearing in the parliamentary committee that oversees his ministry. Some of them have already gone, and a decision on the rest is still to come.

The hearing followed a question from the "We Continue the Change" parliamentary group about the ministry's staffing policy. More than 100 people have lost their jobs at the ministry over the past month, and under its new rules the number of directorates falls from 19 to eight.

Vasilev said those dismissed did not meet the requirements to stay. He named proactivity, accountability, transparency and quality of work as the yardstick. The review of the ministry's work ran from May to September, and staff of the newly forming ministry were told when it began.

The job cuts are part of the government's drive for a more efficient state administration, Vasilev said. "I believe the state administration can work more efficiently without losing staff posts and without hiring people close to parties," he said. He believes those dismissed can continue their careers in the private sector, where he says there is a shortage of staff. He thanked them for "their service to the Motherland".

The draft rules for MIDT went out for public consultation as early as May. The minister said the document speeds up the administration's work and leaves no room to dodge responsibility. "The new structure sets out very clearly which directorate is responsible for what," Vasilev said.

Work on the single digital wallet has gone on for more than a year. The minister named it as an example of an inherited problem and of dodging responsibility.