site.btaRenew Europe Plans Sofia Fact-Finding Visit on Rule of Law in Bulgaria

Renew Europe lawmakers in the European Parliament are planning a fact-finding visit to Sofia on Thursday for meetings on the rule of law in Bulgaria, group president Valerie Hayer said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"Renew Europe’s Task Force will conduct a fact-finding mission to Sofia, meeting institutional actors, journalists, and civil society organisations," Hayer said. “The findings 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 be sent to the European Commission,” she added.

“Bulgaria has been experiencing serious democratic backsliding,” Hayer said. “It exposes a deeper systemic crisis: the weaponization of the justice system, the erosion of checks and balances, and the silencing of democratically elected opposition figures,” she added.

She reiterated Renew Europe’s call for Bulgaria to be denied EU funds until the rule of law is restored in the country.

Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who also took part in the press conference at the European Parliament in Brussels alongside MEP Nikola Minchev of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and Renew Europe, said: “This Anti-Corruption Commission is now in the process of being closed down by the Bulgarian government, which is also very curious: why they decided to close the Anti-Corruption Commission after my case, when this is a prerequisite for the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Bulgaria to have such an anti-corruption body.”

Bulgaria is a captured State with hijacked institutions, Kotsev added, and Varna is a gateway to the Black Sea and an important line of defence against Russia’s ongoing aggression under [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. Any EU initiative to protect the eastern border would fail unless the rule of law is restored in Bulgaria, he said.

“I expect justice and I believe the judiciary should be impartial. I believe the judiciary is not fully captured. I am sure there are quite a few impartial panels,” Kotsev said when asked whether he expected justice in connection with his detention on allegations of corrupt practices.

Kotsev said it was still too early to say whether cooperation could be possible with a future political project by [former president] Rumen Radev, because the programme of the former president who resigned is not yet known. In Kotsev’s view, cooperation could be sought with anyone fighting oligarchy, but foreign policy views also matter.