Nationalist VMRO Party Takes Bulgaria IDs to Court

Bulgaria's Nationalist VMRO party claims bilingual inscriptions on countyr's international passports are a sign of low self-esteem and colonial mentality. File Photo

Bulgaria's Nationalist VMRO party is filing a complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court (VAS) over the English language use on the country's IDs.

VMRO insists that texts in the ID Act mandating the use of Bulgarian and English on ID papers are anti-constitutional and demands their amendment.

Bulgaria is the only European Union Member State where the inscriptions on the new, biometric IDs are bilingual, VMRO points out, adding the EU has no such requirement, while Bulgarian ID cards have complete doubling of the information in the two languages.

Bulgaria is also the only country whose international passports' cover bears bilingual inscriptions, which VMRO claims are necessary on the passports' pages, but not on the cover. Bilingual covers are needed only in countries that have more than one official language and for Bulgaria are simply a sign of low self-esteem and colonial mentality, VMRO insists.

In addition, VMRO points out that the current ID cards contain numerous spelling, grammar and content errors in English.

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