Brussels, 03/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - In the wake of the debates about Hungary and its Conservative Prime Minister, Viktor Orban (see other article), the European Parliament expressed concern on Wednesday 3 June about the recent political developments in Bulgaria, a country where the situation regarding the rule of law has also raised a number of concerns among MEPs and the European Commission.
For the past few weeks, the new government (elected on 12 May) has been facing angry demonstrations against government corruption. The technocrat prime minister, who is not a member of any political party, backed by the Socialists and to an extent by Ataka, a nationalist eurosceptic party, Plamen Orecharski, generated mass anger in Bulgaria by choosing Deylan Peevski, a press baron connected with a big bank, to head the national security agency, DANS. Commissioner Viviane Reding followed in the footsteps of Barroso by pointing out Bulgaria's duties on Wednesday when it comes to appointing the holders of important positions in democratic society, as laid down in the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), and said that the situation in the country demonstrated the urgent need for reform. Various MEPs called for early elections. The EPP says the debate was a golden opportunity to respond to the attacks on Viktor Orban, and German MEP Manfred Weber wanted to know what had been conceded to the Ataka party in return for supporting the government.
Portuguese Greens/EFA MEP Rui Tavare, who penned a resolution on Hungary, said that the situation was likely to cause a new crisis on the European horizon, which could be more damaging than the economic crisis. (SP/transl.fl)