The Bulgarian Parliament approved at a first reading the reduction of the party subsidy from EUR 5.62 to EUR 0.51 per vote. 117 Bulgarian MPs voted in favor and 90 MPs voted against the proposal which was approved by the votes of GERB, the United Patriots coalition and Volya Party. The Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms voted against. Representatives of the Movement for Rights and Freedom said they will make proposal for zero subsidy between the first and the second reading. This threatens democracy and would lead to the disappearance of the political parties, the MP from the Bulgarian Socialist Party Dragomir Stoynev said. We don’t want to be called a “defender” of the party subsidy anymore, Toma Bikov from GERB replied and reminded that over 2.5 million Bulgarians who voted at a national referendum several years ago supported the reduction of the party subsidy to EUR 0.51 per vote.
