New Supreme Judicial Council Expected by Mid-November: Four of the Six Parties in Parliament Have Submitted Nominations for Members

One of the government's priorities – the election of a new Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) – is expected to be completed by mid-November. Parliament must elect six members of the SJC's Judicial College and five from its Prosecutorial College. Four of the six parliamentary groups have put forward their nominations. A new Prosecutor General is expected to be elected by spring, Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov told the BNT programme The Day Begins, while noting that this depends on the election of the SJC's new composition.

The largest number of SJC nominations – 11 – have come from Progressive Bulgaria. We Continue the Change has put forward seven, Democratic Bulgaria three, while Vazrazhdane has nominated one candidate. In a statement, Progressive Bulgaria said it was continuing talks with all political forces to secure support, with the exception of GERB-UDF and the MRF. The Prime Minister commented from Paris.

Rumen Radev – Prime Minister: “The election of the Supreme Judicial Council is of utmost importance for Bulgaria's development in all areas, and I can easily explain why some parties are not putting forward their own candidates. You have seen the policy of the largest party until recently, GERB, of not putting forward a candidate of its own. There is apparently fear and internal confusion, but we must do everything possible in the Bulgarian Parliament to choose the most suitable candidates together with all the parties.”

According to the Minister of Justice, this will be a contest of ideas, backgrounds, and capabilities.

Nikolay Naydenov – Minister of Justice: “The election of the professional quota can be challenged, and if there is an appeal, the process could be delayed. But that is beyond our powers. At best, by mid-November we will have an SJC, and in early spring we will also have a Prosecutor General. We are currently working to improve the procedure for electing the Prosecutor General and presidents of the Supreme Courts, so that it is somewhat more transparent.”

Democratic Bulgaria is reviewing the nominations and says the hearings will be crucial.

Bozhidar Bozhanov – co-chairman of Yes, Bulgaria: “I believe it is extremely important for Parliament to send a signal to the judiciary that things are changing, that there will be no obedient people in the SJC, no parasites, no people who simply pick up the phone and carry out orders from political figures. No talks on support have been held so far, there are no deals and no preliminary agreements, so you can be sure that the election will be conducted entirely properly.”

The leader of GERB, however, saw backroom deals regarding the composition of the SJC, given the requirement of 160 votes in Parliament to elect members.

Boyko Borisov—chairman of GERB: “ DB is getting in the way of Gyurov and Kandev and is negotiating over the SJC. Rosy told me: Vitanov and Mirchev are just cozying up to each other—they go around negotiating. Puchcho goes there too—they’re hanging around the chairwoman’s offices, apparently bargaining over something. The people from Progressive Bulgaria do not have the experience yet, but they will understand: everything that is not from Democratic Bulgaria is bad, and if it is theirs, it is good. To reassure Mirchev – nobody has spoken to GERB, and I have banned any talks on the subject.”

We Continue the Change wants to review the nominations.

Asen Vasilev – chairman of We Continue the Change: “We have been approached for talks by Progressive Bulgaria. Our response was absolutely clear: procedural rules have been adopted and we will follow them exactly as they were adopted. We will now review all the candidates who have been nominated and form our own view, and we will say: in our opinion, for these and these reasons, we would support these candidates, while we would not support those candidates.”

According to the chairman of Vazrazhdane, the SJC election will take place after the elections, either because no agreement has yet been reached or because...

Kostadin Kostadinov – chairman of Vazrazhdane: “Perhaps they have a majority, but they do not want to show it because, in this case, that majority would be unacceptable to their voters, and that is why they do not want to reveal it before the elections.”

Photos: BNT, BTA, BGNES

The government is also proposing constitutional changes that would create a mechanism allowing SJC members to be removed when conflicts of interest or other dependencies are established.