Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov called for the introduction of a control mechanism for persons granted Bulgarian citizenship by investment.

In his words the procedure opens up the possibility for foreign citizens to seek to avail themselves of it for the sole reason of obtaining an EU citizen passport. Addressing the parliamentary temporary committee, set up in connection with the 2018 scandal connected with the sale of Bulgarian citizenship by employees of the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, Sotir Tsatsarov stated that the investigations conducted by the State Agency for National Security and the Prosecutor’s Office established multiple violations and the absence of any control mechanism which allows schemes for selling Bulgarian citizenship. In Sotir Tsatsarov’s words the problem can be solved if citizenship is granted only for a genuine investment which is sustained and developed. The other option is not to grant citizenship by investment at all. The prosecutor general proposes stricter requirements regarding the documents proving Bulgarian origin for the granting of Bulgarian citizenship to persons from the Bulgarian minorities in neighbouring countries or countries nearby.