site.btaRenew Europe Rule of Law Task Force Raises Alarm over Democratic Erosion in Bulgaria

Members of the Renew Europe Rule of Law Task Force Thursday warned that Bulgaria is facing serious rule-of-law deficiencies, including compromised judicial independence, pressure on media freedom, and a lack of accountability at the highest levels of power. Speaking at a press conference in Sofia, the task force said its findings were based on direct testimonies from civil society, journalists, judges, and anti-corruption experts.

Valerie Hayer, President of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, said the delegation had heard "deeply alarming" accounts pointing to systematic erosion of democratic standards. "What we see is a system which is systematically undermined," she said. Here is how she described the picture they got: "Key positions in the justice system are compromised. Accountability is absent. Access to information is barely possible. Power is concentrated outside fair and transparent procedures. [...] We see a lack of judicial independence, excessive concentration and abuse of prosecution power, pressure on media freedom, unresolved corruption cases at the highest level."

Some interlocutors, she noted, described the situation as "state capture," with institutions "hollowed out from inside, stripped of their independence, and deprived of their legitimacy."

Hayer stressed that Renew Europe’s mission was not to lecture but to stand alongside Bulgarian citizens. "Defending the rule of law is not anti-Bulgarian. It is an act of solidarity with the Bulgarian people," she said, adding that European integration "cannot be built on unresolved rule-of-law deficits."

Irena Joveva, Chair of Renew Europe’s Working Group on Civil Liberties and a member of the European Parliament from Slovenia, said the delegation’s conclusions were based on consistent, independent testimonies rather than allegations. "We weren’t listening to rumours," she said. "Journalists, lawyers, judges, anti-corruption investigators, and civil movements all described the same picture." Joveva pointed to cases in which court decisions were ignored and major corruption investigations remained unresolved. She argued that the core problem in Bulgaria is "the absence of accountability".

"A system in which the law does not apply equally to everyone, or does not even apply at all - it depends on the situation. So, when the highest court in the country decides that the mandate of the acting Prosecutor General has expired, and other institutions simply ignore this decision, this is no longer a legal dilemma. And when the body that governs the judiciary rejects the rulings of its own Supreme Court, that's not independence of institutions, it is an institutional clash, and in such clash, citizens always lose. And that is the biggest problem here. And when major corruption cases remain unresolved, it is not a question of capacity, it is a question of political will," Joveva said.

She also emphasized the importance of enforcing the European Media Freedom Act, noting that "free media are not a decoration of democracy; they are a security system".

Veronika Cifrova, a member of the European Parliament and of the Rule of Law Monitoring Group, focused on pressure against journalists and the risks this poses to democracy. Speaking as a former journalist, she said: "When space for free and critical journalism starts shrinking, we know that democracy is already in trouble." She warned that media pressure creates a culture of impunity and drew parallels with cases in Malta and Slovakia. "It might start innocently with a few threats or financial pressure on a journalist, but it can end in death," she said, adding that strong independent media are "a precondition for a strong state".

Valerie Hayer said at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday that the findings from their mission will feed directly into our ongoing work within the European Parliament, including in the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group of the LIBE Committee [European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs]. The fact-finding report will also be sent to the European Commission.