Hjem Petar VITANOV

As a head of the Bulgarian Socialist delegation, I would like to express my full support for the findings of the resolution. It comes in an extremely important moment, when the COVID-19 crisis has shown the importance of EU integration and of strengthening cooperation and dialogue between Member States, exchanging solutions and delivering EU-level actions and coordinated responses, including in the field of gender equality
Concerning point 4 of the resolution, I would like to note that the Constitutional court of Bulgaria has taken a decision on the compatibility of the Istanbul Convention with the Bulgarian constitution, stating that despite its undoubtedly positive aspects, the Istanbul Convention contains some inherent contradictions and part of its provisions do not correspond with the Bulgarian Constitution. If ratified, the Convention would require the introduction in our legislation of certain provisions regarding the biological sex and gender, which would be unconstitutional.