EU Socialists Mad at Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov

The leader of the Party of European Socialists, Martin Schulz, has sent a letter to the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, expressing protest against Borisov’s style of government.

The Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament expects from the Bulgarian government to rule just as the government of any other EU member state obeying the principles of democracy, freedom of expression, and rule of law, the letter reads.

In the words of the PES leader, the lack of respect for those values on part of the Borisov government is a serious step back in the 20-year efforts of the Bulgarian people to construct a democratic society.

“In my capacity as the Chair of the Group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, I was deeply affected by the public remarks you made recently hinting that the Bulgarian Socialist Party must be banned, and insulting its members and supports,” Schulz’s letter to Borisov says as quoted by the press service of the delegation of the Bulgarian Socialists at the EP.

The PES Group has declared itself against all kinds of “threats” and “pressure” on any political party in Bulgaria only because it might be defending opinions that differ from those of the Prime Minister Borisov and his party GERB.

Schulz further slams Borisov by reminding of the importance of the freedom of expression in the EU and the unacceptability of political pressure.

Copies of the letter have been sent to the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, Swedish PM Fredrik Rheifeldt, who also chairs the EU Presidency, and the leader of the Group of the European People’s Party (of which Borisov’s GERB is a member), Joseph Dahl.

Schulz's letter refers to remarks made in October 2009 by PM Borisov in which he stated that the Bulgarian Socialist Party was the unreformed descendant of the Bulgarian Communist Party, which should have been banned over the crimes against the Bulgarian people that it committed in 1944-1989.

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