The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has called on Bulgaria’s authorities to comply with European Court of Human Rights judgments and approve the registration of associations requesting that the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria be recognized.
The Deputies, Committee’s document says, inter alia, “reiterated their call for regular high-level messages to the public and stakeholders to clarify that these judgments do not give rise to an obligation to recognise a group of persons as a minority or to an obligation of automatic registration, although they mean it is not possible to refuse registration on the grounds rejected by the European Court; and that registration of associations with similar goals is due, if they satisfy reasonable and consistently applied formal requirements in line with Convention principles”.
The Foreign Ministry said on Friday it was satisfied with the Committee’s decision, stressing that the Court’s judgments were mandatory and that it was a rule in international law for minority rights to be respected without interfering in a country’s internal affairs.