Bulgarians living abroad who are taking part in the anti-government protests will hand a petition over to a European Commission representative in Austria this afternoon, describing the events which gave rise to the mass demonstrations throughout the country, and will demand that the institution take an official position, Bulgarians living in Austria informed Radio Bulgaria. 

Our fellow countrymen are urging the Europeans Union to state its position on the lack of a judicial reform in the country, on the suspicions of accretion of the judiciary with the executive branch, the suspicions of misappropriation of European funds, the restrictions of freedom of the media, the fiasco of the Borissov government’s fight against corruption. The people who have signed the petition are also asking why a cabinet allowing all this to happen is being supported. 

“A circle of oligarchs very efficiently created a parallel state which is exercising its power via businesses, the judicial system, the media, the police and law enforcement. The roots of the Bulgarian mafia are in the former state security, and it is exploiting the futility of the EU’s judicial oversight to spread its reach, employing the communist-time tactics of intimidation and mud-slinging,” the petition of the protesting Bulgarians living abroad reads. They also point to the lack of freedom of the media and the state of the judicial system as the country’s biggest problems. “More and more information has been emerging that the judicial system is an instrument of intimidation, extortion and takeovers by the state.”

According to the petitioners the European Commission which should act to guarantee the EU Treaties is deliberately turning a blind eye to what is happening in Bulgaria “even though it is obvious that it is the European funds which are the lifeblood of the mafia.” Bulgarians abroad state further that what has made state capture possible is the easy access to and unaccountability of the spending of EU funding.

The petition is to be submitted at 4 PM today in Vienna, the Bulgarians in Austria blog Melange Bulgaren reports. As the petitioners do so, they will put blindfolds on to symbolize their disagreement with the silence of the European institutions. 

Photos: Melange Bulgaren​ - the Bulgarians in Austria blog