Only a few weeks after taking up the position of director of the Regional Directorate of Agriculture in Silistra, former Silistra deputy mayor for finance Nina Stoimenova has left the post.
She was initially invited by Silistra Mayor Aleksandar Sabanov to oversee the municipality’s finances in 2025. At the end of June 2026, however, Stoimenova accepted an offer from MPs from “Progressive Bulgaria” to bring order to the paralysed Silistra agriculture administration.
The terms, according to Stoimenova, were that she would be given a free hand to act in accordance with the law and without outside interference.
Stoimenova has an expert background and extensive experience in public administration. She is a licensed auditor and was also nominated for chair of the Bulgarian National Audit Office.
Against this background, when she took over as director of the regional agriculture service, her intention was to bring in mainly professional experts – at least for the key positions within the directorate.
The attempt, however, failed
According to Stoimenova, what she found was a dysfunctional organisation in which two key positions – chief secretary and administrative director – had effectively been held by one person.
At the last minute, the director of the agriculture service, Petar Petrov, had reassigned his predecessor, Ginka Kateva, from head of the Administrative and Legal Directorate to chief secretary. Kateva subsequently went on leave.
The directorate’s general administration was left without staff.
There was no chief accountant, accountant, cashier, human resources officer, legal adviser or any other expert capable of carrying out essential administrative work.
No competitions for civil servants had been held for years. As a result, the employees working in the directorate did not have civil servant status.
The specialised administration was also missing the director of the Agricultural Development Directorate, who had been dismissed by former director Ginka Kateva three years earlier.
There was no chief inspector either.
Only five people remained
The absence of key staff had effectively paralysed even the director’s functions.
This was why employees who remained at the directorate went without pay for two months.
Until 21 July, Stoimenova did not have access to the directorate’s document management system. Nobody had the passwords required to access it – not even Petar Petrov, who had succeeded Ginka Kateva as director.
Many of the people Stoimenova approached in an effort to persuade them to join the agriculture service refused because of the institution’s poor reputation.
Even so, 30 interviews were conducted with potential candidates for new appointments.
External pressure as well
In addition to the internal problems within the directorate, Stoimenova says she was also subjected to outside pressure to make appointments.
According to her, the pressure did not come from the agriculture minister, to whom she reports directly.
