After the provisional government set up an absolutely illegal "working group" in early June to draw up a "blacklist" of individuals and companies associated with US-sanctioned Magnitsky, it now turns out that the European institutions are outraged by the administrative arbitrariness of the government.
After the United States imposed sanctions on three Bulgarians and 64 related companies, the Bulgarian authorities decided to reinsure themselves and without any legal grounds and in violation of the Constitution, put in the "blacklist" hundreds of allegedly related to the sanctioned Bulgarians persons and companies. With these actions the state administration terminated all relations with those persons and companies, and in addition, Prime Minister Stefan Yanev called on banks to stop working with them, BNB (the National Bank) even issued instructions in this sense.

These actions created a sensational scandal. They were followed by 54 complaints to the Bulgarian court, as well as numerous signals to the European institutions, given that there have been clear rules in Europe that sanctions against third countries (such as the US) do not apply throughout the European Union.

It turns out that as early as the end of July, the European Commission expressed in a deliberate letter concerns about the actions of Bulgaria, which has allowed itself unilateral action - the preparation of a "blacklist" in response to a sanction from a third country - the United States.

It is recalled that the European Union has a clear policy in this direction - sanctions from third countries are not applied on its territory, and cited an opinion of the European Commission on this issue from 2019. In addition, the case law of the European Court of Justice prohibiting such actions is cited.

This is a slap in the whole Yanev's government, respectively on President Radev, who appointed it. This is because the ministers obviously have no knowledge of laws and European norms, and on the other hand, it clearly shows their desire of self-mutilation to people and companies.

source: Bivol

The scandal is not only because of the opinion of the European Commission, but also in the fact that this information is deliberately hidden from the public. From July 29 to August 22 there is almost a month, and with extreme impudence the Minister of Finance Asen Vassilev, a favorite of The Capital Circle, continued to claim that his actions were legal and in favour of the public interest. All this time he already knew that Europe had opposed the arbitrariness and was waiting for answers for the actions of the government.

Probably in an attempt to quell the scandal, this information appeared today (including the documents apparently provided by a government official) on the racketeering on-line site "Bivol". The article there contains a broad explanation by Asen Vassilev that there was no problem and Bulgaria could do almost whatever wants.

Moreover, Alexander Kashumov, a grant-dependent lawyer close to The Capital Circle, was also trying to fabricate the opinion that the position of the European Commission it was not binding and did not mean that a Member State could not impose sanctions.

source: Bivol

The scandal is still gaining momentum, because Europe will not stop there. And it is no wonder that criminal proceedings will be initiated against Bulgaria for the actions of the provisional government and the will be paid by all Bulgarian citizens. In the meantime the society and the political parties must urgently seek answers from Asen Vassilev and Stefan Yanev, to the question why the official cabinet is obscurantist and, more importantly, why it is hiding information.