Bulgarian MEPs signed a letter in defense of the Bulgarian national minority in the Western Outlands, whose rights are systematically violated by Serbia, BGNES has reported. The letter is addressed to the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Council and the Council of Europe.

The letter points out that there is continuous hate speech against the Bulgarian minority in the Serbian public space and lists specific cases. All this creates difficult living conditions and the Bulgarians in Serbia often emigrate to Bulgaria and Western Europe, looking for better and more peaceful living conditions, the MEPs say. "Serbia should not be judged only by its words, but by the actions it takes, which should be in sync with European values and human rights," the document reads.

The authors of the letter warn that "generating hatred in Serbian society against Bulgaria, and therefore against the EU, is mostly in favor of the Kremlin". The letter was signed by MEPs Andrey Kovachev, Andrey Novakov, Asim Ademov, Alexander Yordanov, Atidzhe Alieva-Veli, Angel Dzhambazki, Andrey Slabakov, Eva Maydell, Emil Radev, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Iskra Mihailova and Radan Kanev.