Balgarianovinite.com Members of the Renew Europe Rule of Law Task Force Thursday warned that Bulgaria is facing serious rule-of-law deficiencies, including compromised judicial independence, pressure on media freedom, and a lack of accountability at the highest levels of power. Speaking at a press conference in Sofia, the task force said its findings were based on direct testimonies from civil society, journalists, judges, and anti-corruption experts.
Valerie Hayer, President of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, said the delegation had heard “deeply alarming” accounts pointing to systematic erosion of democratic standards. “What we see is a system which is systematically undermined,” she said. Here is how she described the picture they got: “Key positions in the justice system are compromised. Accountability is absent. Access to information is barely possible. Power is concentrated outside fair and transparent procedures. […] We see a lack of judicial independence, excessive concentration and abuse of prosecution power, pressure on media freedom, unresolved corruption cases at the highest level.”
Some interlocutors, she noted, described the situation as “state capture,” with institutions “hollowed out from inside, stripped of their independence, and deprived of their legitimacy.”
Hayer stressed that Renew Europe’s mission was not to lecture but to stand alongside Bulgarian citizens. “Defending the rule of law is not anti-Bulgarian. It is an act of solidarity with the Bulgarian people,” she said, adding that European integration “cannot be built on unresolved rule-of-law deficits.”
Irena Joveva, Chair of Renew Europe’s Working Group on Civil Liberties and a member of the European Parliament from Slovenia, said the delegation’s conclusions were based on consistent, independent testimonies rather than allegations. “We weren’t listening to rumours,” she said. “Journalists, lawyers, judges, anti-corruption investigators, and civil movements all described the same picture.” Joveva pointed to cases in which court decisions were ignored and major corruption investigations remained unresolved. She argued that the core problem in Bulgaria is “the absence of accountability”.
“A system in which the law does not apply equally to everyone, or does not even apply at all – it depends on the situation. So, when the highest court in the country decides that the mandate of the acting Prosecutor General has expired, and other institutions simply ignore this decision, this is no longer a legal dilemma. And when the body that governs the judiciary rejects the rulings of its own Supreme Court, that’s not independence of institutions, it is an institutional clash, and in such clash, citizens always lose. And that is the biggest problem here. And when major corruption cases remain unresolved, it is not a question of capacity, it is a question of political will,” Joveva said.
She also emphasized the importance of enforcing the European Media Freedom Act, noting that “free media are not a decoration of democracy; they are a security system”.
Veronika Cifrova, a member of the European Parliament and of the Rule of Law Monitoring Group, focused on pressure against journalists and the risks this poses to democracy. Speaking as a former journalist, she said: “When space for free and critical journalism starts shrinking, we know that democracy is already in trouble.” She warned that media pressure creates a culture of impunity and drew parallels with cases in Malta and Slovakia. “It might start innocently with a few threats or financial pressure on a journalist, but it can end in death,” she said, adding that strong independent media are “a precondition for a strong state”.
Valerie Hayer said at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday that the findings from their mission will feed directly into our ongoing work within the European Parliament, including in the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group of the LIBE Committee [European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs]. The fact-finding report will also be sent to the European Commission. Renew Europe Rule of Law Task Force Raises Alarm over Democratic Erosion in Bulgaria 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-01-29 18:50:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law