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Bulgaria is not obliged to ratify all clauses of the Istanbul convention, Socialist MEP Says

Елена Йончева
Photo: БГНЕС

By ratifying the Istanbul Convention, the European Parliament does not oblige Bulgaria to accept all the clauses in the document. In line with the Constitutional Court's recommendation, Bulgaria can limit its accession to the Istanbul Convention to the part concerning violence against women, Bulgarian Socialist MEP Elena Yoncheva commented to journalists at a forum organized by the Bulgarian Socialist members of the European Parliament. "It is up to us what part of this convention we will implement, because I repeat this is not a regulation, it is a directive," Yoncheva stressed. 

The co-chairman of the Initiative Committee for holding a referendum on banning "gender ideology" in schools, lawyer Vladimir Cheytanov, said that this decision of the European Parliament violates a key principle of EU law, namely the constitutional identity of EU member countries. According to Cheytanov the Istanbul Convention does not correspond to the cultural, spiritual and legislative traditions and peculiarities of Bulgaria.


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