The managing council of the European People’s Party (EPP) suggested to the political bureau of the party to end the membership of Bulgaria’s Union of Democratic Forces (UDF).

Such decision resulted from the statements of UDF leader Petsr Stoyanov concerning joining the Movement for European Reform, the EPP official website said.

EPP president Wilfred Martens said that it was unacceptable for a party to join such initiative and at the same time to be an EPP member. UDF should be a loyal member that carries out all of its duties, he said.

Stoyanov said that rumours concerning UDF’s membership were exaggerated.

The EPP political bureau will be summoned on May 16 when it will take a decision, Stoyanov said as quoted by Focus news agency.

UDF was a party well-known in Europe and the world, Stoyanov said. “It is high time to start promoting with confidence our ideas without someone constantly telling us what Brussels has decided. In this way Bulgarian interests cannot be protected,” he said.

Europe was changing and the EU had to change as well, Stoyanov said. Most people were dissatisfied with the heavy bureaucracy and centralisation. Joining the movement met Bulgaria’s interests, Stoyanov said.