Did the European Union (EU) press Bulgaria to ratify the Istanbul Convention? No, that's not true: The EU Council decided to join the Convention on June 1, 2023, but only in areas where the EU has competence. This means that the EU Council does not force its member states to ratify the convention or change their national laws.
The Istanbul Convention is a treaty of the Council of Europe that aims to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. The convention entered into force in April 2014 and was signed by the EU on 13 June 2017. The EU Council decided to join the Convention on 1 June 2023, but only in areas where the EU has competence:
The Council decisions mean that the EU accedes the convention with regard to institutions and the public administration of the Union, as well as with regard to matters related to judicial cooperation in criminal matters, asylum and non-refoulement.
This means that the EU Council does not force its member states to ratify the convention or change their national laws. However, the EU Council hopes that its accession will encourage more countries to sign and ratify the convention and strengthen its implementation.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published on May 5, 2023. It opened:
EU - the whore of Babylon! Bulgaria will never accept your Satanism. The Istanbul Convention is madness! It will force us to pay from our budget to the Soros Foundations, they will take away our children for no reason, they will oblige us to accept refugees. They ruin everything. We say No!
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Jun 21 21:13:20 2023 UTC)
There have been instances of social media users in Bulgaria sharing a false claim that the EU is pressuring the country to ratify the Istanbul Convention. The claim suggests that failure to do so would result in severe sanctions, portraying it as a covert attempt to promote genderism under the guise of protecting women's rights.
Аssociate professor Dr. Hristo Hristev teaching EU law at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" shared with Factcheck.bg the following:
The adoption of the Istanbul Convention by the EU does not create an obligation for countries to ratify it or change their legislation. Nor can we talk about sanctions, because there is no existing EU law under which they can be imposed.
