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© european parliament (audiovisual service)
Vera Yourova, Commissioner for Transparency and Values of the EU.
Bulgaria is on the agenda for today’s meeting of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament, where the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (MCV) will be discussed. Known more as a follow-up to judicial reforms, this European Commission instrument, created specifically in 2006 for Bulgaria and Romania, has yet to be formally completed, despite attempts by Bulgarian rulers and GERB MEPs to confuse its fate. .
Vera Yourova, Vice President of the European Commission for Transparency and Values, will explain her condition. Her participation has already been confirmed by her office to Dnevnik.
There are no details on the next conversation, including which MEPs will speak. The situation with the freedom of the media in Bulgaria, which has already appeared in the monitoring reports, may be among the topics. This week, Yourova told the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum that one of the serious problems in the EU lately is “infiltrating the public space through misinformation and a flood of lies that people tend to believe.” According to her, this disinformation is created in a coordinated way with a very clear objective, and that is why the battle is not only for freedom of expression, but also for a security issue.
Yourova defends the idea (there is no final decision on this) of linking states’ access to funds only in compliance with the rule of law. Coordinates (together with EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders) the preparation of status reports on judicial reform.
Monitoring is changing and expanding
The mechanism under which Bulgaria has made commitments continues to function until terminated by the European Commission. Government officials in Sofia say it will be replaced by new reports on the rule of law, which should start at the end of the month. But this does not happen automatically: an explicit decision from the European Commission is needed.
In addition to Yourova and Reinders, his colleague Valdis Dombrovskis also began to work on the issue, because the conclusions of the follow-up were included in the reports of the semester of economic reforms. Starting this fall, the fight against corruption, money laundering and the administration of justice will be overseen by the European Central Bank through Bulgaria’s membership in the ERM monetary mechanism in preparation for the adoption of the euro.
The debate, which begins at 10:15 am Bulgarian time, follows a private meeting of the Rule of Law Oversight Group, which was attended in August by Deputy Prime Minister for Judicial Reform Ekaterina Zaharieva and representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor’s Office , the Commission for the Protection against Discrimination and the Civil Sector. . It has caused controversy and accusations against the authorities and the Sofia prosecutor’s office for spreading false news, which you can read about here.
On this occasion, the government press service explained in advance in the form of rebuttal that no invitation had been sent to the prime minister or ministers, and that the rules of the meeting did not provide for the expression of a government position. “The main objective is to discuss the position of the European Commission on the Mechanism by the members of the commission,” the statement added. Less than half an hour earlier, the same explanation in defense of the government “in relation to false information on websites and social networks” was disseminated by the GERB / EPP MEPs.
Today’s event is full commission and can be viewed online here. Elena Yoncheva, a MEP for the Socialist Group, told Dnevnik that the discussion was held on her initiative, despite opposition from the European People’s Party.
The efforts of Yoncheva, and her “Democratic Bulgaria” / PPE colleague Radan Kanev, to draw the attention of the European Parliament to what is happening in Bulgaria, which has been covered by protests for two months, began with the invasion of the presidency. by the prosecution in early July. before the start of the demonstrations.
What do Bulgarian MEPs hear in Brussels?
It is not yet known whether today’s meeting of the LIBE committee will be followed by a debate in the plenary of the European Parliament next week. For now, it seems unlikely that this will be supported by the European People’s Party group. Radan Kanev said on Wednesday that he had spoken with EPP President Donald Tusk, but “said he needed much more information about the situation in the country.” why you want early parliamentary elections after the regular ones are so early. He asked why protests are made on charges of dictatorship, while protests are allowed. “
GERB / EPP MEP Alexander Yordanov wrote yesterday on his Facebook account that at a meeting of the Tusk parliamentary group he said that the party should show solidarity with “our friends” from GERB, because the main thing for the EPP is solidarity. Radan Kanev was absent, but Andrey Kovachev, Asim Ademov and Yordanov spoke and he published his speech.
It shows that at least this former President of the National Assembly presented to his colleagues in the European Parliament the events in Bulgaria in the following way: this is not a protest, but an attempted coup through an extreme “uprising”. left inspired by Moscow and the president. of the country, his aim is behind the screen of corruption to destabilize Bulgaria and stay in the Russian zone of influence, protesting “in violation of the law and without the necessary permission”.
In addition, Yordanov described that “the protest has the support of media owned by former State Security agents or linked to Russian oligarchs, as well as journalists and even diplomats, also belonging to State Security, and among the Organizers of the protest there is a known creator of fake news and disinformation sites. ” The MEP then took the false news to Brussels that the organizers of the protest would hold a “popular trial” and that this was their understanding of the rule of law; in fact, BNT, where this lie originated, admitted its mistake and apologized for it 24 hours a day. earlier.
Finally, his speech ended with a call to “all colleagues to condemn the riots against democracy in Bulgaria and against democratically elected institutions” and to express “serious concern about attempts to destabilize the country” because “the protests in Bulgaria have no nothing to do with the protection of civil society. ” rights and freedoms and with European democratic values, are a war against the rule of law and the democratic state “.
Alexander Yordanov does not say how his colleagues perceived all this.
