The public debate on the bill for the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, the Istanbul Convention, organized by National Assembly President Tsveta Karayancheva, ended up as a clash of polarized opinions, with neither side showing any willingness to alter their stance.
The debate was joined by MPs, representatives of the executive, of NGOs, the principal religious denominations as well as experts. Before that, the document split parliament down the middle. GERB firmly supports the document, while the United Patriots and the Bulgarian Socialist Party are against, as is the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The opponents of the Convention allege it will lead up to the introduction of the so-called “gender ideology” in Bulgarian legislation – the blurring the notion of “sex” by introducing a socially rather than biologically based definition, and will prepare the ground for demands for the recognition of the so-called “third sex” and same-sex marriage.
The Council of Europe has urged Bulgaria to ratify the Convention, as did EC Vice-President Frans Timmermans during his visit to Sofia on Monday.
Several European liberal parties have sent a letter to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) to demand that Delyan Peevski be monitored, pointing out that he has been sanctioned for corruption by the US under the Global Magnitsky..
Greece’s Minister of Defence Nikos Dendias announced that Greece, Bulgaria and Romania are to establish a military mobility corridor in NATO’s Eastern flank. “Today my Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts, Mr. Atanas Zaprianov and Mr. Angel..
The parliamentary group of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) has excluded 17 MPs. Among them is the co-chairman Dzhevdet Chakarov. The decision was read in the plenary hall by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly,..
The European Commission has approved state aid amounting to EUR 142 million (BGN 278 million) to support the energy sector, BNR’s correspondent in..
13 bands from abroad will perform on the big stage of the 4 th edition of Midalidare - Rock in the Wine Valley , 12-14 July, alongside the..
President Rumen Radev is to hand the second governing-forming mandate next week. ''I expect We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) to..
+359 2 9336 661