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Constitutional amendments to be tabled in National Assembly next week

Photo: BGNES

The stressful negotiations that took place Thursday in Parliament between the political forces of the ruling majority, with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister for European Policy Coordination Meglena Kuneva and Minister of Justice Hristo Ivanov, produced encouraging news. Next Wednesday GERB will begin collecting the necessary 60 signatures in order to propose changes to the Constitution. The bill with amendments to the Constitution related to the judiciary is expected to be submitted to the National Assembly the very same day. It is offered that the mandate of the Supreme Judicial Council should be reduced from 5 to 4 years. The Supreme Judicial Council is also planned to be divided into two sections - judicial and prosecutor's, which has been Brussels' recommendation for years. This is what GERB, the Reform Bloc and the Patriotic Front agreed during the consultations. Meanwhile, it became clear that MPs of the Reform Bloc will propose between the two readings including in the changes the possibility of dismissal of the chief prosecutor in cases of violation of the constitution or other laws, or in case of undermining the prestige of the judiciary. As expected, Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov described the idea as an attempt to "curb the prosecution" and explained that the Constitutional Court has already discussed if the parliament could change the Chief Prosecutor and heads of the supreme courts. The Patriotic Front offer that the Minister of Justice should head the chambers and the plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council. The position of ABC, which supports the government, is different. The party calls for convening the Grand National Assembly and is against splitting the Supreme Judicial Council.

If necessary, instead of ABC’s support, GERB may use the support of the Bulgarian Democratic Centre, which is the only opposition party that was invited to the consultations.

English Alexander Markov


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