The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) proposes a temporary suspension of payments under the Bulgaria Recovery and Resilience Plan due to political arrests in the country. A resolution adopted during the ALDE congress, which was held on October 24 and 25 in Brussels, calls for the issue of illegal political arrests in Bulgaria to be raised in the national parliaments of the member states. The resolution calls for the financial measure to be temporary until all political prisoners are released.
ALDE Chair Svenja Hahn also stood up in defense of Bulgarian political prisoners. She called for action by the European Commission from the rostrum of the European Parliament. Otherwise, democracy in Bulgaria would be in danger.
The Bulgarian delegates to the European Liberal Forum were the chairman of the PP Asen Vassilev, the co-chairman of the PP-DB parliamentary group Nikolay Denkov, the former co-chairman of the PP Kiril Petkov, the deputy chairman of the PP-DB PG Lena Borislavova, the MEPs Nikola Minchev and Hristo Petrov, as well as the PP Benelux coordinator Kristiyan Dimitrov.
On Friday evening, the Bulgarian representatives also met with numerous supporters in Brussels. In a frank conversation, they explained the situation surrounding Blago Kotsev and described it as a symbol of the current crisis in Bulgaria.
Kiril Petkov described the conditions in which Blago Kotsev lives. “He is in the dark with one hour of sunlight from the roof, with bedbugs and they haven't turned on the heating yet. But what keeps him going is that many people support him. Everyone from his belfry must do something.“
Assen Vassilev emphasized that the tension in society is growing and international partners are taking political sides. “ALDE very quickly came in with a really sharp position. They know who Peevski is – because of him, MRF was expelled from the Alliance, after 20 years of membership.“