Tag: ECHR

The Green Alliance ECtHR Judgment and Bulgaria’s Police State

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On 17 February 2026, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its much-anticipated judgment in Green Alliance v Bulgaria (Application no 6580/22), which concerns the application of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the very sensitive context of national security. The Court unanimously found that the possibility for Bulgaria’s secret services to infiltrate legal entities or liberal professions with ‘agents on cover’, envisaged in national legislation, violates Article 8 because Bulgarian law does not provide any effective guarantees against arbitrary action.

Green Alliance can be seen in a positive light because it exposes the unlawful practices of Bulgaria’s police state, which could have a chilling effect on civil society. It is also important for the development of Article 8 itself since it defines some of the limits to spying on civil society under the ECHR. Nevertheless, it will hardly make a difference in Bulgaria. The country has a deplorable track record of employing tactical manoeuvres to undermine the implementation of ECtHR judgments. Moreover, Bulgaria’s secret services themselves have experience in subverting legislation in public regulations. This means that behind closed doors such subversion is even easier via internal regulations and/or oral instructions.

Earlier this month, I analyzed the implications of the judgment in Green Alliance for the Strasbourg Observers. You can read my full commentary here.

EU Bureaucracy Undermines Human Rights

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In my latest piece for the Verfassungsblog, I share the lessons learned from a 5-year long journey of trying to persuade the EU Commission and the EU Parliament to comply with their obligations under the EU Treaties. Namely, the EU Commission has recently launched an infringement procedure against Bulgaria in view of its breaches of Directive 2016/343 on the presumption of innocence and on grounds I have been raising in formal complaints to EU institutions since 2018. My 5-year long disillusioning experience of raising concerns about Bulgaria’s deliberate breaches of EU law before the EU Parliament and the EU Commission may serve as a case study providing some food for thought about the value of fundamental rights in the eyes of these EU institutions, as well as their handling of reasoned citizen complaints.

You can read my full article titled ‘At a Snail’s Pace: How EU Bureaucracy Undermines Fundamental Rights’ here.