BULGARIA is to withdraw from an international treaty designed to reduce violence against women and girls, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said today.

Mr Borissov said that his conservative Gerb party would withdraw from parliament a Bill to ratify the Istanbul Convention, citing opposition from political parties and the church.

Volen Siderov, the parliamentary leader of the far-right United Patriots, which is in coalition with Gerb, said his party would bring down the government and force new elections if it tried to ratify the women’s rights Bill.