The Renew Europe Group at the European Parliament at a news conference in Strasbourg on Friday said that the trial against Varna Mayor Vladimir Kotsev is politically motivated. Vincent Stuer, spokesperson of the Group & Press Officer, called for a topical debate on the ongoing assault on democratic institutions and the rule of law in Bulgaria at the parliament’s session next week.
“Yesterday the Sofia court has again refused or rejected the appeal of Mayor Blagomir Kotsev to be released from detention awaiting politically motivated trial. This is the sixth time. And it is a problem for all of us, because the case forms part of a larger assault and pattern of state capture in the country. We, as Renew Group called for his release awaiting trial, an immediate formal review of the case, and the suspension of the second disbursement of the Recovery and Resilience Facility fully. Indeed, the conditions of the RRF were written explicitly with an eye on strengthening the rule of law in the country, and now the opposite is happening, anti-corruption institutions are used as a political weapon. It’s become a bit of a cliche to say that democracy hands the tools to its opponents to ignore it or undermine it from within,” Stuer said. “We actually give them the money to do so as well, and it needs to stop,” he added.
On the same topic, Stephen Jones, spokesperson of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group said that he had recently visited Bulgaria, adding that he is “proud that our member party [There Is Such a People] TISP is part of the government. They’re contributing to the stability of the Bulgarian government.” He said that he hoped “the debate next week will also consider the fact that in this house there are members of the Vazrazhdane party from Bulgaria which are members of the [Europe of Sovereign Nations] ESN group which have a strategic partnership agreement with Vladimir Putin’s party United Russia, and that is a matter of tremendous concern to us and it should be of tremendous concern to all in this house who are mindful of Russia’s pernicious influence on our democratic way of life.”
In September, a European Commission spokesperson confirmed that a letter had been received from Renew Europe linking the case of the mayor of Varna to payments under the RRF. In early October, a spokesperson for the institution explained that there was no connection between the two issues. Meanwhile, the EC positively assessed Bulgaria’s second payment request under the RRF, specifying that the reform of the Commission for Anti-Corruption and Illegal Assets Forfeiture remains unfulfilled, and proposed to temporarily defer a portion of the payment. Renew Europe Group Says Trial against Varna Mayor Is Politically Motivated THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-10-17 13:35:07 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
