Angel Dzhambazki

The European Parliament building in Strsbourg. Photo: EPA-EFE/PATRICK SEEGER

MEP Angel Dzhambazki was caught at Sofia Airport with a pistol. The incident took place on November 19th.

He told NOVA that he had a legitimate self-defense weapon, but forgot to take it out of his luggage and the scanner caught it. "Border Police" arrived on the spot.

An online petition is calling on the European Parliament to penalise Bulgarian MEP Angel Dzhambazki for allegedly spreading "aggressive anti-Roma propaganda" in the parliament, in the media and on social networks.

A month ago, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Albania, which included a text, put forward by Bulgarian MEPs Andrey Kovatchev and Angel Dzhambazki, reaffirming the rights of the Bulgarian population in Mala Prespa, Golo Brdo and Gora.

MEP Angel Dzhambazki has said the nationalist VMRO party will staunchly oppose the idea to resettle some of the migrants who have been given refugee status to areas facing demographic problems.

Dzhambazki, who is the deputy chair of VMRO, has said his party is "categorically against... the construction of camps in municipalities and so on."

Bulgarian politicians and experts have taken a hard line on the Islamist terror attacks in Brussels, which killed 34 people on Tuesday, blaming them on failed policies of multiculturalism.

Bulgarian and foreign MEPs from different political groups called for changes to the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) which is currently in place for Bulgaria and Romania in the fields of judicial reform, corruption and organised crime.

The website of MEP Angel Dzhambazki has purportedly been hacked by the Islamic State (IS) group, a statement by Dzhambazki's VMRO party reads.

"MEP Angel Dzhambazki is known for his critical tone on Islamic State. He has more than once raised awareness of the threat which IS constitutes to Europe, and to the whole world as well, the message reads."

Two lawmakers of Bulgaria without Censorship, the party of MEP Nikolay Barekov in Bulgaria's Parliament, have left his entity.

Svetlin Tanchev and Georgi Kovachev, the former having been one of Barekov's most important MPs, have chosen to quit Bulgaria without Censorship, stating this in an open letter.

Protesters from the Southwest Bulgarian village of Banya came to the streets on Friday to express their disagreement with a government project to build a landfill close to a historic monument.

Public dissatisfaction is caused by the fact that the landfill will be located next to a 17th century church of historic importance near the village of Debar.