Renew Europe Urges European Commission to Suspend Recovery and Resilience Payments until Political Prisoners’ Release

The Renew Europe Political Group in the European Parliament “urges the European Commission to suspend Recovery and Resilience Facility [RRF] payments linked to judicial reform and anti-corruption until political prisoners are released and institutional independence is restored,” the Group’s President Valerie Hayer said, quoted by her political group in a press release on Friday. 
“The situation represents a broader European concern, undermining the EU’s democratic values and strategic interests in the Black Sea region. Renew Europe calls for an urgent fact-finding mission to Bulgaria to assess rule-of-law compliance and the legality of opposition detentions, including the case of Blagomir Kotsev, the democratically elected Mayor of Varna, who remains in custody for three months without credible charges,” the press release says. “For Renew Europe, this debate is a test of the EU’s credibility: European funds must not sustain state capture, and defending democracy in Bulgaria means defending democracy across the European Union,” the group said.
Speaking at a news conference in Strasbourg earlier in the day, Renew Europe spokesperson and press officer Vincent Stuer called for “a topical debate on the ongoing assault on democratic institutions and the rule of law in Bulgaria at the [European] 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 September 23, 2025, Hayer wrote to three EU Commissioners arguing that RRF payments to Bulgaria should be suspended over the case of the Varna mayor. In early October, a spokesperson for the European Commission 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 Urges European Commission to Suspend Recovery and Resilience Payments until Political Prisoners’ Release THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-10-17 13:20:00 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