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Plenary of the EP in Brussels PHOTO: Reuters
l 13 of the 48 amendments to the text were approved
l Maltese Roberta Mezzola’s proposals for President Radev were rejected
The European Parliament passed a critical resolution on the rule of law in Bulgaria. The document is not legally binding, but is expected to be taken into account alongside the first EC report on the subject, the first of its kind, last week under the EU’s general rule of law mechanism. Some members insist that it provides for the suspension of European funding if it is shown that any of the member states violates these principles.
The document was approved by 358 votes in favor of the 691 MEPs who participated in the vote. 277 voted against the text and 56 abstained.
Of the Bulgarian representatives in the EP, Radan Kanev from the European People’s Party (EPP), Ivo Hristov from the Socialist and Democratic Group (S&D), Tsvetelina Penkova (S&D), Sergey Stanishev (S&D), Petar Vitanov (S&D) and Elena gave their support for resolution. Yoncheva (S&D).
In an attempt to reject the document “against” voted by Angel Dzhambazki of the European Conservatives and Reformists (EKR), Andrei Slabakov (EKR), Asim Ademov (EPP), Alexander Yordanov (EPP), Andrei Kovachev (EPP), Eva Maidel (EPP), Andrey Novakov (EPP) and Emil Radev (EPP).
All members of
“Renew Europe” / MRF
abstained
– Atidje Aliyeva-Veli, Ilkhan Kyuchyuk and Iskra Mikhailova.
With the resolution, MEPs expressed their “unequivocal support for the Bulgarian people in their legitimate demands and aspirations for justice, transparency, accountability and democracy.” They condemned the violent and disproportionate intervention by the police, in particular the allegations of the use of force against women, children and journalists, as well as the “illegal and excessive audits” of private companies, which expressed their support for the protests. The document was prepared by the head of the Commission for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D).
The events of the EP session were preceded by a meeting of the LIBE Monitoring Group and discussions in the same committee on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism in Bulgaria in early September. Last week, the European Commission published the first reports on the rule of law in all member states. An unprecedented debate on the situation in Bulgaria took place in the plenary hall in Brussels on Monday. The EPP strongly supported the Boyko Borissov government, and the S&D and the Greens harshly criticized it.
After the debate
MEPs could
submit proposals
For repairs,
which were voted on Wednesday night. Of the surprising 48 changes, 13 were approved and up to 35 were rejected.
The first to make changes was Angel Djambazki. The EQR representative is also the only Bulgarian MEP who has personally addressed the amendments on behalf of his political group in Brussels. All nine sentences removed entire sentences and paragraphs, but
all imported from
Jambazki Amendments
they were rejected
I wanted to remove the fact that the Bulgarian Electoral Code hinders linguistic diversity and suffrage for citizens living abroad. He insisted that the texts bemoaning the discrepancy between the Istanbul Convention and the Constitution of Bulgaria. Djambazki also demanded the removal of the paragraph on hate speech against people of Roma origin, women, LGBTI people and other minority groups. Furthermore, the EP did not need to ask that EU money be linked to the rule of law in the Member States as soon as possible.
On behalf of Renew Europe, Romanian Ramona Strugariu made four changes to the resolution, all of which were approved. Added to the call was that the Bulgarian authorities must investigate the disclosures contained in the files of the United States Financial Crimes Network (FinCEN), according to which three Bulgarian banks participated in the processing of payments for which a high degree was established risk of money laundering. money and connection with the financing of organized crime and terrorism ”.
Of the three, only Maltese Roberta Mezzola from the EPP provided a detailed version of the text with 36 amendments. Of these, the “yes” received 9 amendments and 26 were voted “against.” He insisted that the document includes cases of presidential advisers accused of influence peddling and incitement to commit official crimes.
None of them passed
the amendments that
pointed to the president
Rumen Radev. The EPP’s proposal to welcome the decision of the Bulgarian government to expel diplomats who allegedly carried out military espionage and collected information that is a state secret to transmit to a third country was also not accepted.
Notably, the EPP requested a separate voting ruling on sentence 7, which deals with the high-level corruption investigations, the recordings that appeared in the summer of 2020, the Apartmentgate scandals and the guest houses. the issue of the Libyan oil tanker Badr, the case of Ahmed Dogan’s residence in Rosenets, etc. The paragraph was divided into 4 parts, without the PPE proposing changes, just a vote of approval or rejection. The texts for Rosenets and Apartmentgate received a wavering support of 334 votes in favor, mainly from the S&D and the Greens, out of a total of 695 participants in the vote. Almost all members of the EPP, without 7 MPs, including the Bulgarian Radan Kanev, voted against this part.
A separate vote was taken without amendment to paragraph 12, which “condemns the inhumane conditions in Bulgarian prisons”. He also received support.
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