Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission rejected the complaint of the ruling GERB party which contends that this country’s President Rumen Radev has joined the European Elections campaign of the Bulgarian Socialist Party with some of his public appearances. Representatives of this country’s election commission told the Bulgarian National Radio that no such violations were found in President Radev’s behavior. One day earlier, the Central Election Commission rejected with the same arguments the complaint of the Bulgarian Socialist Party which claimed that Premier Borissov was using state resources to hold and election campaign in favor of GERB party. Thus, Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission clearly demonstrated that its behavior is independent from the ruling parties and the opposition.

The leader of the European Elections list of GERB-SDS Mariya Gabriel said in a TV debate with the leader of the European Elections list of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Elena Yoncheva that “populist formations should not be allowed to enter the next European Parliament”. The idea of the Bulgarian Socialist party for a common European minimum salary is an example of populism, Mariya Gabriel said. “Bulgaria has been part of the European Union for 12 years now. This country received billions of Euros from the EU, but we are not witnessing any cohesion. On the contrary, the poverty has increased due to rampant high-level corruption and the Bulgarian citizens do not feel the effect of the EU funds allotted to this country”, Elena Yoncheva said in response. The leader of the Party of European Socialists and candidate for MEP from the European Elections list of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Sergei Stanishev called for the establishment of a social European Union where people, not the corporations will mater the most and where there is no division into core and periphery.

Valeri Simeonov who is the leader of the European Elections list of the Patriots for Valeri Simeonov coalition (NFSB and Middle European Class) said that Bulgaria should look for adherents among the European countries which are also suffering from the overregulation of the large western countries. In Valeri Simeonov’s view, France and Germany want to see Europe divided into Western and Eastern Europe, which is an undisguised attempt to defend the interests of the big countries.

The former leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms Ahmed Dogan, who has been for many years honorary chairman of MRF and has been avoiding public appearances, joined the election campaign quite unexpectedly. Dogan broke his usual silence and called on the supporters of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms to demonstrate maximum mobilization and underlined that the forthcoming Elections for European Parliament are extremely important for the MRF, because they would pave the road towards successful participation at the next local and Parliamentary elections in Bulgaria.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov