Sat, Nov 21 2009

OBSERVER FROM BULGARIA CAUSES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SCANDAL

Fri, Sep 29 2006 10:07 CET 307 Views

European Parliament (EP) observer from ultra-nationalist movement Ataka Dimitar Stoyanov caused controversy after he sent a personal e-mail containing racist remarks.

The e-mail evaluated the nomination of Hungarian MEP Livia Jaroka for award for her contribution to the justice sector, Focus news agency reported.

Jaroka was of Roma origin, Focus reported. Stoyanov's e-mail to his colleagues contained disparaging and discriminatory comments about the MEP's origin.

MEPs reacted sharply to Stoyanov's claims. Other Bulgarian observers also criticised his act.

Later Stoyanov apologised for the content of the e-mail but also said he was offended by being called a racist. Stoyanov said he was entitled to freedom of expression. Though his manner of dealing with social problems was untypical, it did not signify he was racist, Stoyanov said.

Bulgaria People's Union (BPU) leader and EP observer Stefan Sofianski said everyone was free to express a point of view but the manner in which Stoyanov had done it was unacceptable.

Several MEPs were investigating whether they could resort to legal procedures to deal with Stoyanov's abusive statements.

Write comment

Name:Comment:

Generate new code
Send your comment

More in this category

White tigress slaughtered by lions

The white tigress is a rare animal resulting from a special recessive gene

Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine to form military brigade

The agreement was signed in Brussels earlier this week but it's still a long way off before the Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian brigade can be formalized as an international agreement.

Flu slows down Kyiv

Affected by quarantine and panic, life in Kyiv has been subdued in the past few weeks.

Poll: Number of Russians worrying about A(H1N1) growing

The number of Russians worrying about contracting the A(H1N1) flu virus grew to 70 per cent in November from 57 per cent in September.

Riots break out in central Athens on 36th anniversary of the Polytechnic massacre

The Polytechnic University or Politechniu in Greek, was the scene of a massacre in 1973, when Greek army tanks broke into the University and shot students indiscriminately, killing dozens of youths.

© 2000-2009, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.