site.btaCommand of Bulgarian to Be Required for Bulgarian Citizenship by Descent

Bulgaria’s National Assembly Wednesday voted, 154-0 with 22 abstentions, to adopt on first reading amendments to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act moved by the Council of Ministers. The revision makes command of the Bulgarian language a mandatory condition for obtaining Bulgarian citizenship by persons of Bulgarian descent or persons whose parents are Bulgarian citizens. This requirement is waived for a Bulgarian citizen’s adoptee as this would pose an insurmountable obstacle to the finalization of the procedure.

A new provision precludes the renunciation of Bulgarian citizenship by persons who are subject to pending criminal proceedings or incur outstanding financial obligations to the Bulgarian State or to a Bulgarian natural or legal person which are identified by a competent authority by an enforceable instrument.

Another amendment makes it possible to revoke the naturalization of persons who persistently and deliberately undermine the prestige of Bulgaria, Bulgarian institutions, and Bulgarian national interests by hate speech or a commit an act motivated by hate against the Bulgarian State, its citizens, and/or Bulgarian communities abroad. The Citizenship Council would hear the person whose naturalization is proposed for revocation so as to ensure that such a decision is not arbitrary, the Council of Ministers said in its reasoning to the bill.