site.btaUPDATED Four Parties Move to Parliament Declaration in Support of Ukraine's Accession to NATO

Party officials submitted to Parliament a draft declaration in support of Ukraine's membership to NATO, according to information, published on the National Assembly’s website. The declaration was signed by GERB party leader Boyko Borissov, GERB floor leader Desislava Atanasova, Movement for Rights and Freedoms party leader Mustafa Karadayi, Democratic Bulgaria co-leaders Atanas Atanasov and Hristo Ivanov, There Is Such a People (TISP) floor leader Toshko Yordanov, GERB MP Ekaterina Zaharieva and TISP MP Pavela Mitova.

Continue the Change said they also support the declaration.

The document says that the 49th National Assembly declares that the most direct and desirable path for restoring peace in Ukraine, the Black Sea region and Europe, is the full and immediate voluntary withdrawal of the Russian Federation outside the internationally recognized state borders of all sovereign states affected by it.

The declaration says that the National Assembly categorically demands cessation of all the actions of the Russian Federation, which are in sharp contradiction to the UN Charter and constitute the most serious blow against the peace and well-being of both the European and Russian peoples. Bulgarian Parliament also supports the peace formula of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose goal is a lasting and just peace.

In order to guarantee Ukraine's ability to defend itself from the aggressor on its own territory, the National Assembly insists that the institutions in Bulgaria continue to provide Ukraine with political, financial, humanitarian, military and technical support until the full restoration of its sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders, the document also reads.

The 49th National Assembly reaffirms its full support for NATO's Open Doors policy independent of external factors and expects the Bulgarian government to express its position in support of Ukraine's NATO membership, including at the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius in July 2023.

Reacting to comments about the absence of their representatives among the signatories, Continue Change said in a statement that they strongly support Ukraine's NATO membership and that that MPs from the parliamentary group of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria were actively involved in the drafting of the declaration, along with the other parliamentary groups. Every single member of the parliamentary group of Continue the Change - DB and the executive council of the Continue the Change stands behind the words in the document, the party said.

Vazrazhdane and BSP for Bulgaria are the only parties in Parliament that don't back the declaration.