Bulgarians must respect civil rights

A Bulgarian citizen of Lebanese origin has become the first person in Bulgaria to sue the prosecutor's office for compensation under EU law for denying him the right to leave the country during a trial. It is high time Bulgarians recognised and took advantage of their rights as EU citizens, writes Edvin Sugarev in his blog for the portal Svobodata: "If every Bulgarian whose rights as an EU citizen are violated can now sue the state, and if this has been possible for three years now, I'd like to know why this is the first time it's happened. And why is the plaintiff Lebanese, and not Bulgarian? ... Are Bulgarians even aware of their rights according to EU law? And if they are, why don't they take advantage of them? Do they know, for example, that they can engage in class-actions in their thousands against the feudal electricity and district heating suppliers? And is this the first time someone has hit upon the idea of suing the prosecution, or have many people attempted it and failed because the Bulgarian courts turn a deaf ear to EU norms?"

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