European liberals mull measures against Bulgarian member amid leadership dispute

The Bulgarian party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) could be excluded from the European liberal party ALDE, because of its US and UK-sanctioned Co-Chair, Delyan Peevski, ALDE Secretary General Didrik de Schaetzen told Euractiv Bulgaria on Thursday (11 July).

DPS has been rocked by internal scandals over the last two weeks since Peevski launched his bid to take control of the party and oust its founder and ideological leader Ahmed Dogan. The ongoing conflict risks splitting or even destroying the party.

“This is scary development and must be treated very seriously. There is a risk that if this continues there can be a situation that DPS could face sanctions,”  the ALDE secretary general told Euractiv in an interview.

DPS, the second political force in the country at the last elections, represents the political interests of the country’s Turkish minority, estimated at 10% of the total population. The party is a member of ALDE and of the Renew group in the European Parliament.

Earlier this week, four liberal parties that are members of ALDE, sent a letter to their Brussels headquarters, raising concerns over Peevsk, who is sanctioned by the Magnitsky Act in the US and is barred from entering the UK.

“We cannot suppress the concerns regarding our own political family, in light of the co-chair of DPS, sanctioned by the US, and the resulting harm to the image of the ALDE Party,” the leaders of Germany’s Freie Demokraten, Austria’s NEOS – Das Neue Österreich, Slovakia’s Progresívne Slovensko and Netherlands’ Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, wrote in their letter seen by Euractiv.

Coup attempt

Late on Wednesday 10 July, Dogan, 70, who avoids public appearances and lives in seclusion, published a hard-hitting statement in which he accuses Peevski of an attempted coup.

By “coup” Dogan means an ongoing process which started two weeks ago of evicting all party leaders faithful to him by Peevski, replacing them with his followers.

In Dogan’s words, the process of “illegitimate replacement of the DPS must definitely be stopped”, for which he demanded the resignation of Peevski.

Asked if it there was a risk that ALDE will exclude DPS if Peevski wins and becomes its sole leader, de Schaetzen said, “I would not rule that out. We have had too many experiences when the the leadership can drag the party into the wrong direction. So, this is a real concern.”

“There are growing concerns from our prominent members. If you have founding members that express their concerns this is a very very serious signal indeed,” he added.

Cleanup time

ALDE party national members are concerned about their political family’s health after the recent departure of Andrej Babiš’s ANO party, which joined the ‘Patriots for Europe’  political group, led by Hungary’s Fidesz party and widely viewed as being sympathetic to Russia.

This has created a situation where it is important to “make an honest assessment, voice corners, and avoid such future events with regards to other ALDE member parties,” de Schaetzen added.

As Boyko Borissov, the leader of GERB said, it is impossible to predict who would ulitimately prevail – Peevski or Dogan.

Borissov, who is a football aficionado, said the question was tantamout to guessing if England or Spain would win the Euro 2024 cup next Sunday.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

Read more with Euractiv