The MRF delegation at the EP with a number of questions over Simeonov’s hate speech

What measures will you take to combat hate speech given the election of Valeri Simeonov as Vice-President of the Bulgarian National Assembly? This question was asked by MEPs from the MRF/Renew Europe – Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Iskra Mihaylova and Atidze Alieva-Veli to the European Commission and the Council.

In a question submitted through the European Parliament’s written questions procedure, the representatives of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms cited the resignation of Valery Simeonov as Deputy Prime Minister as a result of the protests  for calling the mothers of children with disabilities “shrill women” with “supposedly ill children” and naming representatives of the Roma community “ferocious anthropoids” and “women with instincts of stray bitches”.

With regards to the subsequent election of Valery Simeonov as Vice-President of the Bulgarian National Assembly last week, the MEPs sought answers from the European institutions on safeguarding the tolerance, human dignity and the rights of persons belonging to minorities, as core values of the Union.

In addition, they asked what measures would be taken to tackle hate speech, considering that a person with consistent track-record and law cases on the matter was elected as one of the speakers of the Bulgarian Parliament.