The Bulgarian Constitutional Court will judge today whether provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention) are in conflict with the Bulgarian constitution or not. The request was filed by 75 MPs. In the beginning of March this year the Bulgarian cabinet withdrew its proposal for ratification of the convention and asked the Constitutional Court to initiate a case for considering whether the Istanbul Convention is in line with the basic law in this country. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian National Assembly ruled out a possibility for a national referendum on this issue.
