Bulgaria's Greens (Zelenite) party has claimed that its former partners from the The Reformist Bloc will not send any MEPs to the European Parliament after the vote in May.

Svilen Ovcharov, member of the managing body of the Greens party, explained at a Sunday press conference that the formation refused to be part of a coalition which would work to increase the influence of Christian Democrats in the European Parliament.

He reiterated that the Greens, who left the right-wing entity The Reformist Bloc on November 14, had decided that they did not want to be part of a pre-election coalition.

Ovcharov, as cited by Darik radio, also noted that the Greens opposed the draft Penal Code and Election Code and a series of recent appointments at the Ministry of Environment and Water.

Representatives of the Greens made clear that the new Penal Code envisaged a reduction of the penalty for crimes against animals, adding that the measure ran against the EU-wide debate on criminalizing ecocide, or the extensive destruction of eco systems.

They also said that the draft Penal Code envisaged harsher penalties for petty offenses, which would result in an overload of the judiciary, at the same time leaving serious crimes unpunished.

The Greens also said that a series of scandalous appointments had been made at regional units of the Ministry of Environment and Water, stressing that this would result in the lack of long-term conservation as the candidates had been selected for political reasons, not on the basis of expertise.

They also described the plans of Bulgaria's government to create a Law on Mountains as a step aimed at circumventing all other legal provisions so as to permit overbuilding.

The party also informed that the European Greens had organized a primary online vote, which was open to all aged 16+, for candidates for the EU elections in May 2014.