Just weeks after they were proposed, the Parliament today adopted changes to the laws on associations and political parties, to ban the promotion of fascism and nazism. The move comes after Bulgarian organizations in Macedonia opened two clubs named after Nazi collaborators.

The clubs were opened with the full support of the Bulgarian state, one of them was named after Vanco Mihajlov, and then another after Tsar Boris III.

– Humanity still carries the wounds of genocide and ethnic cleansing, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. We must inform about the horrific truth about fascism and nazism against all who try to deny it, said VMRO-DPMNE member of Parliament Rasela Mizrahi, who is Jewish. The amendments to the law on civic associations was proposed by VMRO-DPMNE.

The ruling coalition, which has been cowed by Bulgaria and protested but did not react to the opening of the clubs, and supported the changes to the law, adding its own proposal to apply the same rule to the political parties as well. The amendments are meant to be be applied retroactively – but this could be seen as unconstitutional.