BULGARIA’S PARLIAMENT PASSED AMENDMENTS TO JUDICIARY SYSTEM ACT AT FIRST READING

On 16th of March, Bulgaria’s Parliament passed at first reading the amendments to the Judiciary System Act. 118 MPs voted in favour, 19 voted against and one abstained. The texts are compliant with the changes to the Bulgarian Constitution, which were adopted last year and are the next step in conducting the judicial reform.

The amendments provide for the division of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) into two separate colleges - one of judges that will oversee the courts and one of prosecutors - and the direct election of the magistrates in them. The amendments also envisage all appointment and dismissal decisions to be made with qualified majority, use of open voting and remove the option for SJC members to abstain from voting.

Bulgaria’s justice minister, Ekaterina Zaharieva, said that such provision would ensure that Parliament-appointed members of the SJC would not have the necessary numbers to make unilateral decisions concerning the judiciary and the election of JSC members from this quota will require a qualified majority of two-thirds of the membership.

The centre-left socialists, who opposed the constitutional changes last year, confirmed their position that the amendments would not solve the problem in the judicial system. The leader of the Bulgarian socialist party, Mihail Mikov said that the Judiciary System Act amendments would be the “latest hit in the crossbar in the attempts to reform the judiciary”.

The centre-right Reformist bloc supported the amendments.

The justice minister expects the amendments to be passed at second reading next week.

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