Bulgaria: membership application and partnership, 14 December 1995

The European Parliament adopted the report by Mr Geoffrey VAN ORDEN (EPP-ED, UK) on Bulgaria's application for membership of the European Union. (Please refer to the previous text). In addition, the Parliament calls upon the Bulgarian government to eliminate provisions in the penal code that discriminate against homosexual men and lesbian women, notably Article 157, a provision that has been declared contrary to the European Convention of Human Rights by the European Commission of Human Rights. It stresses that retention of this Article in the penal code would mean a failure to comply with with the political Copenhagen criteria.�