Lawsuit Filed Against European Commions For Failing To Protect Macedonians In Bulgaria – OpEd
By Macedonian Human Rights Movement International
Macedonian organizations filed a lawsuit in the Court of Justice of the European Union, against the European Commission, in an historic step to force the registration of Macedonian associations in Bulgaria and protect their right to freedom of assembly and association.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Macedonian Club for Ethnic Tolerance in Bulgaria, and led by Nov Asnom, Macedonian Human Rights Movement International, World Macedonian Congress Canada, Simon Popovski, Iljo Janev, and several others, demands that the European Union immediately suspend its financial assistance package, administered through the European Cohesion Fund, of 1.467 billion euros to Bulgaria pending an immediate end to Bulgaria’s violations of Macedonians’ rights and the immediate registration of the Macedonian Club for Ethnic Tolerance and the other organizations that it has refused to register, based solely on the grounds that they are Macedonian.
The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Bulgaria 14 times, with 12 more cases currently before the court, for violating the rights of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, specifically Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights concerning the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association.
The above group of Macedonian organizations subsequently filed a complaint to the European Commission in 2022, which has refused to act to protect the rights of Macedonians in Bulgaria, including its failure to enforce the ECHR judgments, thus committing an infringement of Article 12 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Additionally, the European Commission is in breach of Article 317 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which stipulates that it must monitor and audit the Member State in question in order to prevent infringements of fundamental rights.
The European Commission is now obligated to answer for its failings of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the European Union.