Bulgaria's interior ministry is preparing to move its internal work and public services online, including with artificial intelligence, interior minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told parliament's interior committee.

Cuts to administration staff and the removal of surplus units will be finished by the end of the year, he said at the hearing. So far 168 posts have been cut. The minister said the administration should shrink in favour of staff with police duties.

The first working group, which deals with administration, has finished its work. The options will be discussed, then a decision will be made. The second group, which looks at units with police powers, will finish in about a month.

Demerdzhiev said that in these units, staff with overlapping duties and teams that do not work fully effectively will mostly be moved elsewhere. More than 20 junior police inspectors from the centre that handles administrative offences have already been sent to the Sofia police directorate.

A third group is working on staff with various degrees of disability and must propose what to do with them. The ministry is also reviewing cases of staff who have reached retirement age and have already retired. Each case will be handled individually, depending on the person's duties and the staff shortage.

The minister said checks have been ordered into possible police violence against a young man in Kardzhali and into a similar case in Veliko Tarnovo. Both should finish soon. He said every report will be checked carefully and quickly.

"We do not tolerate and will not tolerate police violence," Demerdzhiev said.

Deputy minister Kaloyan Kaloyanov spoke about road safety. He said analyses show the main cause of road accidents is wrong manoeuvres, not speed. More people have died in crashes this year than in 2025, but there have been fewer accidents. Kaloyanov said the measures need more time to work.

He gave the example of Spain, where road deaths fell over ten years to 37 per 1m people. In Bulgaria the figure is now 74 per 1m.