Bulgaria’s ruling coalition backed a controversial law aiming to reveal media owners in the country in its first reading on July 4. The law was written by media mogul Delayn Peevski, who is also an MP from the ethnic-Turk Movement for Rights and Freedom (DPS).

The law, proposed by Peevski several months earlier, raised concerns among publishers that it aims to clear the image of the controversial businessman and not to reveal the actual situation with media ownership in the country.

In April, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Bulgaria lowest in the EU terms of media freedom in its 2018 report. The NGO called Peevski the “most notorious embodiment” of the corruption and collusion between media, politicians, and oligarchs in the country. 

The draft bill was unexpectedly proposed for voting by the DPS as the party used a parliamentary regulation according to which opposition parties are allowed to suggest the session’s agenda on the first Wednesday of each month. The bill has not been discussed by the parliament’s committees in line with the usual procedure.

According to the adopted bill, proposed by Peevski along with fellow DPS MPs Yordan Tsonev, Velislava Krasteva and Hamid Hamid, all print, electronic and online media will have to disclose their true owner on their websites and declare any financing they have received in the past year, the amount and the grounds on which it was provided, as well as information on the individuals or legal entities that provided it.

On the other hand, publishers will not be required to provide information on bank loans, advertising revenues or EU financing. According to publishers who do not support the ruling coalition, these three sources of financing have been used for years for secretly backing the media close to those in power, daily Dnevnik reported. The daily is among those against the ruling coalition.