Bulgaria MPs to Probe 'High-Level' Corruption

The proposal to probe official corruption came from Yane Yanev, leader of the small Conservative Order, Law and Justice party, RZS.

It will work for six months and will include 13 MPs –  six from the governing GERB party, two from the opposition left-wing Coalition for Bulgaria, two from the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, one from the right-wing Blue Coalition, one from the far-right, nationalist Ataka, and one independent MP.

Despite opposition criticism of the proposal to establish the Committee, the vote in favour was passed by 179 MPs voting for to 53 against. One abstained.

High-level corruption is a continuing theme in Bulgarian public life. The problem has been highlighted time and again in a succession of reports by the European Commission.

Like its northern neighbour Romania, on joining the EU in January 2007, Bulgaria was subjected to a Co-operation and Verification Mechanism by the European Commission, set up as a means to bring the two EU newcomers up to the bloc’s standards in justice and home affairs.