The European Parliament has decided Monday evening to hold a debate on the situation in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian news agency reports that the debate will be held Tuesday afternoon in Strasbourg. It has been requested by the European People's Party, EPP, and backed by the Greens Party. The socialists and the liberals have voted against and have voiced the opinion such debate should be held in September.

MEP, Ivaylo Kalfin, from the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, says his colleagues are alarmed by the fact the extremist nationalist party Ataka holds the quorum in the Bulgarian Parliament.

The proposal for the debate has been made by German MEP Manfred Weber from the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, part of EPP.

He is quoted in saying the Socialist-endorsed government in Bulgaria is ruling only due to the nationalists' support, which is the support of an extreme-right formation inciting hatred against Jews and Muslims, and even threatening civil war.

Weber has also accused the leader of the BSP and the party of the European Socialists, PES, Sergey Stanishev, of attempting to appoint a shady media individual to fight organized crime in Bulgaria, which has been prevented only by protests rallies of thousands of outraged citizens.

The protests were sparked by the shocking decision of the government to appoint controversial media mogul and Member of the Parliament from the predominantly ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, Delyan Peevski as Chair of the State Agency for National Security (DANS).

The decision to make Peevski national security chief was eventually reversed, yet protesters went on to demand the resignation of the socialist-led government over ties with oligarchs, an end to opaque policies, and Election Code amendments aimed at guaranteeing a greater representation of Bulgarian citizens in the government.

Bulgaria's formerly-ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, is a EPP member.