site.btaSupreme Judicial Council Members Confer with Visiting Deputy Secretary-General at European Commission Michou

120 POLITICS-JUDICIARY-EC OFFICIAL-MEETING

Supreme Judicial Council Members
Confer with Visiting
Deputy Secretary-General at European Commission Michou


Sofia, January 13 (BTA) - Dimiter Ouzounov, who represents the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), President of the Supreme Court of Cassation Lozan Panov and Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov Friday conferred with Paraskevi Michou, Deputy Secretary-General at the European Commission responsible for the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), who is on a visit to Sofia, SJC said in a press release.

On the agenda of the talks was the ten-year period of the CVM of Bulgaria and the future actions in this respect.

With the CVM the European Commission monitors Bulgaria's progress in reforming its judiciary, fighting organized crime and high-level corruption.

Ouzounov presented the opinion of a SJC plenum, according to which the CVM should be lifted. Ouzounov argued that in the past ten years the SJC - in its different make-ups, has achieved indubitable progress in respect of the members of the judiciary and creating clear criteria and standards about its staffing policy.

Tsatsarov said that it is realistic to think about leaving the CVM by the end of the term of the incumbent EC, but that the cooperation should continue with a more dynamic approach combined with missions, such as the latest one in the prosecuting magistracy.

Panov argued that the CVM should be kept, reasoning that people's trust in the judiciary is not as high as it should be. Panov noted the need of amending the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure and persevering with the reforms of the judiciary. He further mentioned the debate that will be triggered by the changed judicial map and the interaction between the three branches of power to enforce it. VI/ZH//