A delegation from the DPS party met Patrick Jaki, co-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament, in Brussels. The party's press office said the delegation presented him with cases of abuse of power and political interference in the work of law enforcement by interior minister Ivan Demerdzhiev.
The DPS says the minister and his political team have violated human rights. The party said Jaki voiced full support for its actions and called for open talks and specific steps to tackle the problem.
On Monday, party leader Delyan Peevski asked prosecutors to look into public statements by Demerdzhiev. "In several public statements, Ivan Demerdzhiev has put forward an untenable, absurd and even comic claim," Peevski said.
According to Peevski, the minister is tying his effort to prove a non-existent link between a Bulgarian company and the payment for Peevski's flights to a series of threats against schools, kindergartens and other public buildings. "I have said many times that I and my family paid for those flights," the DPS leader added.
The meeting also covered the position of the ECR and the DPS on the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework. The statement said the future framework must provide funds, tools, programmes and clear rules to support local authorities, which are closest to people's problems.
Both sides said they want to work together on initiatives for the security of allies, for resilience, and to counter Russian hybrid and kinetic attacks on NATO's eastern flank and in the Black Sea. The party also said it takes an active part in shaping EU security and solidarity policy and defends Bulgaria's national interest.
The delegation includes DPS deputy chairs Iskra Mihaylova, who is also deputy chair of the parliamentary group, and Radoslav Revanski, mayor of Belitsa and a member of the Committee of the Regions. With them are MPs Atidzhe Veli, a member of the party's Central Operational Bureau (COB), and Stanislav Anastasov, adviser to the DPS leader on international affairs. Also taking part are Nedzhmi Ali, a COB member and mayor of Dzhebel, and MEPs Taner Kabilov, a COB member, and Elena Yoncheva.
Today, DPS MEPs will present the specific cases to members of the ECR and of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.