Bulgaria’s Minister of Justice met with the European Chief Prosecutor

Bulgaria’s Minister of Justice Nadezhda Yordanova and European Prosecutor Laura Kövesi on June 10 discussed the amendments to the Judiciary Act in relation to improving the working conditions of the European Delegated Prosecutors in Bulgaria and ensuring the financial independence of the Office.

At the bilateral meeting held today in Luxembourg, the extension of the range of bodies (prosecutors from all levels) to make proposals for the transfer of cases from the competence of the European Public Prosecutor's Office was seen as a positive step.

The need to elect more Bulgarian delegated prosecutors was commented, because the current ones are quite busy. They are currently actively working on 80 proceedings.

Issues concerning the effective implementation of the EPPO Regulation and possible future changes in the European legal framework were also discussed.

Laura Kövesi expressed her satisfaction with the steps taken by Bulgaria and her expectation that they will soon find a solution with the adoption of the legislation by the National Assembly.

During her visit to Luxembourg, Minister Yordanova also held talks with the President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Koen Lenaerts. They discussed issues related to preliminary ruling cases and the role of the Court's jurisprudence. Minister Yordanova briefed Koen Lenaerts on the reform of the legal education programme at Bulgarian higher education institutions in terms of deepening knowledge of European law and the case law of the CJEU.