Bulgaria Rejects Treaty to Combat Violence Against Women

Bulgaria's ruling GERB party has withdrawn from parliament a European treaty designed to combat violence against women in the face of opposition from its allies in government and religious groups, aacording to Reuters. 

The center-right government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov submitted the Council of Europe convention for ratification last month but language around gender roles triggered uproar in the European Union's poorest country, which now holds the bloc's rotating presidency.

The dispute overshadows Borissov's efforts to present the ex-communist state, which joined the EU in 2007, as a progressive and open-minded country during its first stint as chair of the bloc.

It also highlights widespread resistance among the more socially conservative countries of the former eastern bloc to the liberal values of wealthier western Europe.

Speaking to Bulgarian television station bTV, Borissov said that GERB would not proceed with the ratification of the treaty, also known as the Istanbul Convention, due to lack of support from political parties, including the nationalist United Patriots, its junior coalition partner.

"We will adopt the Istanbul Convention only if there is a consensus in Bulgarian society," Borissov said during an interview on Wednesday night, three weeks after his party decided to delay the vote to allow more time for debate.

Volen Siderov, one of United Patriots' co-leaders, had warned that if GERB sought parliamentary approval for the treaty, it could lead to the fall of the government and early parliamentary elections. The opposition Socialists had even demanded a referendum on the issue.

LOST IN TRANSLATION?

The dispute appeared to center on the treaty's definition of 'gender' as "social roles,...