Vesselin Mareshki

Ultra-nationalist parties VMRO and the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria, along with populist Volya, have agreed to stand together in Bulgaria's July 11 2021 parliamentary elections under the name "Bulgarian Patriots", the parties announced on May 20.

Bulgarians voted on Sunday (4 April) sending in Parliament three new political forces largely representing the anti-corruption protests during the summer. Boyko Borissov's GERB party remained the largest force, but appears unable to form a government.

The MPs from Volya party will stay in Parliament. This emerged after a meeting on March 20 between Volya leader Vesselin Mareshki and GERB PG leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov, reports BNT. 

Four of the six investigated MPs said they would give up their immunity voluntarily. Only Volya's leader Vesselin Mareshki and the MPs from his party Krastina Taskova have not decided yet. They, however, consider themselves innocent and sees political interference in the actions of the prosecutor's office.

Vesselin Mareshki

Patients' organisations and Bulgarian Ombudswoman Maya Manolova have pledged to challenge in court a controversial moratorium on public funding for innovative drugs, which was backed by the majority of MPs in parliament on Thursday.

''The case against the MPs from Volya party Veselin Mareshki, Plamen Hristov and Krastina Taskova will not be over soon'', Roumyana Arnaudova, the spokesperson of Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor, told BNT morning programme "The Day Begins" on 26th of June.

According to the prosecutor's office, many actions are to be carried out and more than 80 people should be interviewed.

Bulgarian MP Vesselin Mareshki has caused outrage for demanding that MPs reveal their sexual orientation - as a potential form of conflict of interest - together with whether they have alcohol or drug issues.

Valery Simeonov, a deputy to Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, overseeing the economy and demography, on Friday said he will not accept demands for his resignation from three opposition parties - the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the ethnic-Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and Volya, led by the businessman Vesselin Mareshki.