The MEPs from "Renew Europe" have asked the European Commission to suspend payments to Bulgaria due to the arrest of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who belongs to their party, "Politico" reported, quoted by BNR.
The Chair of the liberal group "Renew Europe" in the European Parliament Valerie Aye sent a letter to the European Commission, stating that the Bulgarian government is using the independent anti-corruption commission for political purposes.
According to Aye, the Commission for Combating Corruption has been turned into a tool for pressure on opposition figures. According to her, this undermines the guarantees for the independence of institutions set out in the Recovery Plan. This comes as the Commission examines Bulgaria's request for a new tranche of €653 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
"As Chair of the "Renew Europe" Group in the European Parliament, I am addressing you to express our deep concerns about Bulgaria's compliance with the conditions of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The European Union created it to finance democratic reforms, not to facilitate political repression. However, Bulgaria is currently requesting the disbursement of €653 million, while the very benchmark designed to ensure institutional progress - the establishment of an independent anti-corruption commission - has been fundamentally undermined," writes Aye, citing as the most worrying evidence the imprisonment of Blagomir Kotsev along with three other opposition figures.
"This is not a success story in the fight against corruption, but its exact opposite. An indicator designed to guarantee institutional independence is being used as a weapon to neutralize democratically elected opposition through politicized law enforcement. This is a direct attack on the democratic values that underpin the European project," the letter continued.
It also states that Varna is going beyond its role as a Bulgarian municipality. "The city functions as a strategic hub for NATO in the Black Sea, the EU's eastern sea gate and a key target for Russian influence operations. The systematic undermining of democratic governance in the Kotsev administration destabilizes the institutional integrity of a city where Moscow would derive maximum strategic benefit from political chaos. An EU-funded anti-corruption commission that facilitates the removal of Varna's democratically elected leadership is not just a failure of national governance, but a direct threat to the security architecture of Europe," Aye said.