“We in the BSP are taking a stand with Europe, with European values of human and citizen’s right at the core. The BSP warns against growing nationalism and xenophobia at home and abroad,” BSP Leader and PES President Sergei Stanishev stated when the resolution was adopted, “The way that minorities in Bulgaria, such as Roma and Turks, are spoken of has gone way beyond civilized boundaries. If today society tolerates the attack on Dzhumaia Mosque in Plovdiv, tomorrow will we wake up to an attack on a synagogue and after that on an Orthodox church?”, Mr. Stanishev continued.
The BSP underlined that Bulgarians are also Europeans and that European values of democracy and human rights must be promoted and protected in Bulgaria. The BSP urges all actors to comply with Article 2 in the Lisbon Treaty which stipulates that the “The Union is founded on the values of respect of human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect of human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, toler-ance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail.”
Bulgaria has faced growing intolerance and sense of separation and “hatred for the sake of hatred alone” in the last months and hate speech has developed into hate politics where censorship and discrimination against those with opposing views is tolerated. “Hate speech can be heard both from the parliamentary tribune and elements in media. We hear it from representatives of Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), but also from Ataka, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and especially from some parties that are not represented in Parliament such as Bulgaria without Censorship (BWC), IMRO- BNM, National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB).”Mr. Stanishev stated. “These actors are poisoning both political and public discourse and they need to be held accountable.”
Read the full resolution here.
