The European Parliament adopted resolution on rule of law in Bulgaria

MEPs on October 8 supported a resolution on the rule of law and fundamental rights in Bulgaria.

The decision was supported by 358 MEPs, 277 voted against and 56 abstained.

The resolution says that the European Parliament regrets the fact that in Bulgaria there is a violation of the principles of the rule of law, freedom of the media, the fight against corruption.

The resolution was adopted by the votes of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. It was also supported by the Liberals, part of the Greens and the far left.

As expected, the majority of the European People's Party, European conservatives and reformists voted against it.

Earlier, the EPP said it would vote against, saying it was being used by the left wing for internal party purposes. The left said that they could not but support the Bulgarian citizens, because they did the same for the citizens in Poland and Hungary.

According to MEPs, issues in the judiciary related to the Supreme Judicial Council and the Prosecutor General remain unresolved and there are no effective accountability and control mechanisms.

There is a continuing lack of investigations into high-level corruption and a serious deterioration in media freedom. The call to the Bulgarian authorities is to increase the transparency of media ownership. MEPs regret that the Constitutional Union's decision prevents Bulgaria from ratifying the Istanbul Convention.

According to Andrey Kovachev of GERB party, the opposition in Bulgaria has used the European Parliament for pre- election purposes.

Andrey Kovachev, MEP from GERB / ​​EPP: "What we saw was a party text created by the left-wing in this Bulgarian Parliament and an abuse of the European Parliament for the election campaign of some of the parties in Bulgaria, unfortunately. I’ll say it again - the debate is very important. The critical and objective report of the European Commission is very important for Bulgaria..All recommendations are implemented and should be implemented by the Bulgarian government. In November, there will be an assessment by the council regarding the rule of law for all countries. Bulgaria has volunteered to be evaluated in the top five."

Ramona Strugariu of “Renew Europe” called the document a victory for European values.

Ramona Strugariu, MEP from “Renew Europe: "Governments come and go, but the ones who matter most are the people. These people live there every day, they suffer the consequences of corruption and inefficiency. They are the ones who should benefit the most from the European values. I am grateful to these people, we should all thank them for defending their positions. As for the changes, all the changes that were proposed by me and our group have been accepted, which is a great victory for us."

MEPs welcome the results of the new Rule of Law mechanism of the European Commission and call for monitoring of Bulgaria to continue through the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism as well.

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