A party in Bulgaria's ruling coalition attempted to pass a law jailing journalists for disclosing private information

On October 9, 2025, the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs discussed and voted on a bill to amend and supplement the Penal Code (PC bill), submitted by a member of the "There Is Such a People" party and a group of MPs (transcript). The bill proposed the creation of a new criminal offense that would criminalize the dissemination of materials containing private information about individuals, disclosed without their consent. The punishment provided for in the PC bill for perpetrators of such a crime was imprisonment for 1 to 6 years.

The text of the bill, and particularly the impact of its potential adoption on media freedom in Bulgaria, received wide coverage in the media and sparked public debate across online platforms (social media, forums).

"The proposals adopted by the Legal Affairs Committee today are exactly the opposite of the recommendations of international organizations for freedom of speech, which had a mission in Bulgaria at the end of September and drew attention to the issue of the complete decriminalization of insult and defamation. These proposals also undermine the entire reform of this part of the Penal Code in recent years, when insult and defamation ceased to be crimes of a general nature and punishable by imprisonment," notes the position of the Association of European Journalists-Bulgaria, published on the day of the CCLA meeting. The association described the bill as "obscurantist."

Hours later, the European Federation of Journalists issued an official statement as well, condemning this „disproportionate restriction on journalists’ right to cover private matters that are in the public interest“.

As a result of strong public opposition and pressure on the political parties in power, on October 13, 2025, the bill was withdrawn by its sponsoring party. Its members hold key positions in both the legislative and executive branches of government—Mr. Toshko Yordanov is chairing the Culture and Media Committee in the National Assembly, and Mr. Marian Bachev is Minister of Culture, responsible for implementing audiovisual and media policy in Bulgaria.

"Journalists face increasing challenges in their work," the European Commission stated in its 2025 report on the rule of law in Bulgaria, published on July 8, 2025. The report also refers to the 2025 edition of the Media Pluralism Monitor, which notes that political and economic influence on the media has not improved, highlighting that several audiovisual media outlets in the country are linked to political parties.