GERB is withdrawing the amendment to the judicial law that would ban the foreign funding of local magistrate associations, announced the party’s member Tsvetan Tsvetanov, quoted by bTV.

The amendment was approved at 1^st reading together with other amendments to the judicial law.

GERB now sees as inappropriate the initially planned restrictions on the funding from the EU and ‘’America for Bulgaria’’ Foundation. The proposed amendments has led to a speculative presentation of the information, Tsvetanov pointed out.

The formal explanation of the government was that the ban would strengthen the independence of magistrates.

 ‘’We declare our support for transparency in the way of funding, but not for restricting all those donors which contribute to education, culture, civil society and all other professional organizations that can be assisted in implementing their projects," he said, adding that the decision came after consultations with the non-governmental sector.

He mentioned over USD 170 million provided by "America for Bulgaria" for projects in different sectors, including education, and called for stopping speculations.