The work of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) on suspicions of fraud with EU funds and corruption against former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov intruded into the discussions of the European Parliament this week. According to several sources, the MEP and EPP group leader, Manfred Weber (Germany,) had called for a debate to be added to next week’s plenary agenda on the role of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The EPP finally agreed, on 31 March, that the issue should be redirected to the relevant monitoring group in the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, according to two sources interviewed by EUROPE.
Boyko Borissov was arrested on 17 March in connection with an investigation into EU fund fraud and corruption, and released less than 24 hours later. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed, on 21 March, that it had received several reports from Bulgaria concerning these allegations, and that investigations were ongoing.
Manfred Weber sent a parliamentary mission to Sofia composed of MEPs Monika Hohlmeier (Germany) and Jeroen Lenaers (Netherlands), immediately after the arrest.
S&D group MEPs Katarina Barley (Germany) and Elena Yoncheva (Bulgaria) called on their colleagues to “stop playing politics with the Rule of law” and “let the European Public Prosecutor’s Office carry out its work in Bulgaria without political interference”. “The Rule of law is not a political toy to play with when it suits your political purposes and political friends. Politicising ongoing investigations is just another attempt on behalf of EPP to turn a blind eye to all the shady practices Bulgaria witnessed in the past”, Ms Yoncheva said.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov also supported the work of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office when he arrived at the European Council on 25 March. He expressed his distrust of the Bulgarian chief prosecutor, whom he “does not trust at all” to prosecute Boyko Borissov. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)