Clash in European Parliament over rule of law in Bulgaria
A debate in the European Parliament on October 22 requested by the Renew Europe group on what it termed the ongoing assault on the democratic institutions and the rule of law in Bulgaria saw verbal clashes between groups opposed to the current coalition government and those supporting it.
Valérie Hayer, leader in the European Parliament of Renew Europe – of which Bulgaria’s opposition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria coalition is a member – described Varna mayor Blagomir Kotsev of WCC – DB as a “political prisoner”.
There were no credible charges against Kotsev, Hayer said. Kotsev was arrested in July 2025 and faces charges he denies, and which have provoked a succession of public protests in solidarity with him.
Hayer said that in Bulgaria, the justice system was controlled by oligarchs, and she went on to describe Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski as a danger to democracy and who was “one by one” taking control of Bulgaria’s political parties.
She reiterated Renew Europe’s call to the European Commission to suspend Recovery and Resilience Plan payments to Bulgaria linked to judicial reforms and urged the Commission to send a fact-finding mission to Bulgaria to investigate the rule of law.
Earlier on October 22, Renew Europe said in a media statement that it had set up a “task force” of five MEPs to carry out a fact-finding mission in Sofia and Varna on government abuses against the rule of law in Bulgaria.
Lena Dupont of the centre-right European People’s Party, of which Boiko Borissov’s GERB is a member, said that Kotsev being remanded in custody had been upheld by five courts and she described the investigation into him as “free from political influence”.
Kristian Vigenin, of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, of which government minority partner the Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left is a member, said that Renew Europe had been misled by its Bulgarian member party and the debate was “for propaganda purposes”.
Vigenin said that when WCC leader Kiril Petkov had been Prime Minister, he had ordered an opposition leader (Borissov) arrested, but now that party was complaining about the rule of law.
Renew Europe MEP Nikola Minchev said that European Commission regular reports on the rule of law in Bulgaria were “softer than reality” and said that Kotsev had been arrested, in reality, because after taking office as mayor he had refused to switch allegiance to Peevski’s party.
Stanislav Stoyanov, of the Europe of Sovereign Nations group, of which opposition pro-Russian party Vuzrazhdane is a member, used the debate to allege that Vuzrazhdane had been subjected to “political repression” in recent years over its protests demanding a referendum on euro adoption. (Those protests have seen acts of violence and vandalism and thus-far thwarted attempts to bring Vuzrahdane figures to court to face charges).
Andrei Kovatchev of the EPP group said that the debate had “nothing to do with the rule of law” but was an attempt to “inflate the first electoral balloon of WCC”.
Kovatchev asked the House “where was your moral outrage” when Borissov was arrested.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk of Renew Europe – who Peevski said in November 2024 that he had expelled from the MRF – said that the debate was not one against Bulgaria, but in solidarity with it.
In Bulgaria, the rule of law was not implemented by judges but dictated from the outside, and the country was close to becoming a dictatorship, Kyuchyuk said.
Elena Yoncheva – formerly of the BSP but who was elected to the European Parliament in the most recent elections on an MRF ticket and sits as an independent – said that “we are witnessing an attempt of an opposition party to interfere in the independent judiciary”.
Kotsev had been investigated for corruption and in response the leader of his party (Petkov) had resigned, Yoncheva said.
Imagine if the institutions had not responded to corruption reports because it was a matter of a mayor, she said.
Radan Kanev, who was elected to the European Parliament on a ticket of the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, part of the WCC – DB coalition, said that in Bulgaria, the security services and prosecution did not serve the people but exercised power, they did not protect property and the free market but took them away.
“Just like the communist State Security and its offshoot criminal groups of the 1990s,” Kanev said.
The debate in the European Parliament coincided with the latest developments in Bulgarian politics, as a joint statement by the MRF and GERB said that Peevski’s party would continue to support Borissov’s and the partners in government for a full term in office of the Cabinet.
This was an episode in a political drama sparked just more than a week earlier when Borissov reacted indignantly to his party’s poor showing in a Pazardzhik by-election in which Peevski’s party got by far the largest share of votes. Borissov demanded the “reformatting” of the government.
As The Sofia Globe reported, WCC-DB’s reaction to the October 22 joint statement was scathing.
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