site.bta Proposed Budget Offers Chance to Streamline Judicial System, Minister Says

Proposed Budget Offers Chance to Streamline Judicial System, Minister Says

Sofia, November 12 (BTA) - Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov told
the Legal Affairs Committee in the National Assembly on November
 11 that for the first time in many years, the proposed annual
budget of the judicial system is very close to what the
judiciary wants.

"With a draft budget of 518 million leva, we will be able to
carry on with the current income policy, which ought to be
maintained. To make that happen, the human and financial
resources must be managed better," Ivanov said, as quoted by the
 Justice Ministry press office.

Ivanov said: "The current Supreme Judicial Council is a serious
partner in this policy, because it has shown a serious intention
 to work for streamlining the management of judicial resources."

The Minister and the attending members of the Supreme Judicial
Council were unanimous that the structural adjustments in the
judicial system should not affect the accessibility of justice.
"This is not about shutting down law courts, but restructuring
some courts as territorial divisions," Ivanov said.

He gave the Legal Affairs Committee a summary of this year's
World Bank report on the performance of the Bulgarian judicial
system, its workload and expenditures between 2008 and 2014. The
 World Bank recommends to the Supreme Judicial Council to
consider reducing the number of available judge positions to the
 actual number of judges working at present, which can be the
first step in a more extensive restructuring of the system.
According to the report, there are 2,225 judge positions, but
only 1,811 of them have been filled. The workload in some courts
 is way above the national average of 30 legal cases per judge
per month, the World Bank notes.

The report proposes transferring judges to other courts,
consolidating courts, revising judicial fee rates, and making
structural adjustments in order to save money. Its full text has
 been published on the Justice Ministry website:
www.justice.government.bg.