BULGARIA’S RULING PARTNERS GERB, REFORMIST BLOC CALL FOR RESIGNATION OF SUPREME JUDICIAL COUNCIL - NO OFFICIAL REACTION

In a special statement after a meeting in Parliament on 26th of January, Bulgaria’s ruling coalition partners GERB and the Reformist Bloc called for the resignation of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). The statement came only a day before the official release of the European Commission’s report on Bulgaria’s performance under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.

According to the centre-right GERB, the series of public scandals in which the SJC members got involved in the recent days meant loss of public confidence and aroused opinions that the Council could not perform its official functions.

GERB emphasized their support for the judicial reform and changes to the Constitution. They do not accept the fact that despite what has been done so far, the expected amendments to the law on judiciary and to the Penal Code have not yet been made ready. GERB stressed the urgency of the anticorruption law and the draft law on measures against terrorism. They insist on speeding up judicial reform.

The centre-right Reformist Bloc was also firm that SJC should resign. However, on 27th of January they plan to issue a separate declaration detailing their motives and reasoning for the resignation of the SJC.

Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva was the first to call on the members of the SJC to resign and said it would be a bad sign if they did not do it.

The dissolving of the SJC can only happen if the members themselves resign. There is no procedure under which they can be replaced before the expiry of the term of office, which has 2 more years to run. The National Assembly cannot recall members of the parliamentary quota. SJC members from the judiciary quota can be removed under conditions: effective sentence; disciplinary dismissal; permanent inability to perform their duties. The latter is a new change in the law, which has been applied in several previous compositions of the SJC.

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