Bulgarian parliament overturns presidential veto on anti-corruption law

SOFIA: Bulgaria´s parliament on Friday overturned a presidential veto on anti-graft legislation, clearing the way for the creation of a special unit to investigate individuals occupying high public office as well as assets and conflicts of interest.

Last week Bulgarian President Rumen Radev vetoed the law, passed by parliament, saying the bill failed to offer the means to effectively investigate corruption networks.

Bulgaria has made scant progress towards stamping out graft and organised crime, and the European Commission, the EU´s executive, has repeatedly rebuked the Black Sea country for failing to prosecute and sentence allegedly corrupt officials.

But the motion to overrule the veto was passed by 146 votes in the 240-seat parliament, bringing together lawmakers from the ruling centre-right GERB party, allies in the nationalist United Patriots formation and opposition deputies from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and Volya.

The Socialists voted against. "Today, by rejecting the president´s veto, our country will fulfill a commitment to the European Commission," GERB´s parliamentary group leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov told lawmakers.