The letter sent to Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev calling for a reprieve for the Roma residents of the Vuzrazhdane area of Sofia pending a long-term housing solution was signed by four members of the European Parliament: Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit, Els de Groen, Hiltrud Breyer and Bart Staes.

It said that the MEPs were concerned about the violation of the rights of the 200 Roma people in the Vuzrazhdane area of Sofia. The letter was reaction to an announcement by municipal authorities that planned demolition of the illegal settlements in the area was to go ahead in accordance with a court order, and the illegal residents were to be sent to the areas officially registered as their residential addresses.

It called on Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov and Stanishev to meet to discuss the issue.

Allegedly, Borissov was anti-Roma, according to the letter.

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) also joined in objecting to the planned demolition and removal operation. The human rights watchdog said that removing the Roma from their homes was a violation of their human rights. Some of the dwellings were almost a century old and had been home to several generations of Roma, the BHC said.

Going ahead with the demolition and removal would constitute an instance of mass discrimination, the BHC said.