The European Parliament rejected the amendments to the motion for the resolution on the rule of law in Bulgaria pertaining to Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.

With the votes of the socialists, the liberals and the greens, the amendment demanding that the president be added to PM Boyko Borissov in the text regarding high-level corruption was rejected, as were the the proposal to include a text regarding connections between foreign intelligence services and presidential advisors, and a text welcoming the decision of the Bulgarian government to expel diplomats for alleged military espionage - collecting information constituting a state secret for the purpose of revealing it to a foreign state.

The proposed amendment stating that the president of Bulgaria is “constitutionally bound by political neutrality” and that he “is using the ongoing protests as a platform for his position” was also rejected.

The MEPs did not support the proposal that monitoring for Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism be dropped either.

Texts were approved demanding that the authorities investigate three banks for money laundering and financing of criminal activity and terrorism, as well as expressing concern over interference by third countries in the media environment for the purpose of anti-EU disinformation. 

The results of the vote on the entire motion for a resolution will become clear today after 5 PM Bulgarian time. 

Reporting by BNR’s Anguelina Piskova.