Democratic Bulgaria supports more stringent control over the rule of law on behalf of the European union

Wednesday 9th of May 2018

1) The proposal of the European Commission for a new Regulation that would make EU funding conditional upon the existence of strong institutions and efficient justice system should be welcomed. This would protect Bulgarian citizens, taxpayers and businesses against corruption, abuse of power and embezzlement of public resources by party circles and organised crime.

2) We call on the Bulgarian Government to actively support these proposals in the context of Bulgaria’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, thus proving its declared commitment to reforming the judiciary and fighting against corruption.

3) Being the poorest country in the EU, Bulgaria needs the solidarity of Europe to reach the standards of other Member States. We must do our best to preserve the amount of EU funding. However, this cannot happen if the objectives and the pattern of spending the resources coming from the EU budget, remain unchanged. As European citizens and European taxpayers, we also object to our money being spent to finance election campaigns and media cartels of corrupt parties and politicians.

4) The allocation of more EU resources to the security sector is good news for us. In the difficult years ahead, cohesion in Europe will increasingly depend on the common security policy and the common foreign and defence policy. Having the lengthiest external borders of the EU, Bulgaria would certainly benefit from the development of pan-European defence infrastructure projects funded by the EU budget.

After thorough consideration of the Commission’s proposals and following a debate with experts, the Alternative Management Team of “Democratic Bulgaria” will present an overall assessment of the national interest in respect of both the financial framework for 2020-2027 and the strategic development of the EU budget.