site.btaIn Parliament, Constitutional Changes Get First-Reading Support Necessary to Be Fast-tracked for Conclusive Adoption

In Parliament, Constitutional Changes Get First-Reading Support Necessary to Be Fast-tracked for Conclusive Adoption

Sofia, September 23 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Parliament Wednesday
passed on first reading a Bill to Amend and Supplement the
Constitution, moved by National Assembly Chair Tsetska Tsacheva
and a group of MPs. The vote was 184 in favour (GERB, Reformist
Bloc, Patriotic Front, Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF),
Bulgarian Democratic Centre (BDC), Ataka and 1 ABV MP), 34
against (BSP-Left Bulgaria), and eight abstentions (the rest of
ABV).

To be passed, an amendment to the Constitution requires that at
least 180 MPs (three-quarters of all 240) vote in favour of it.
If it receives a majority of less than three-quarters (180) but
more than two-thirds (160 votes), it would be eligible for a new
 consideration not earlier than two months and not later than
five months after that. Upon such new consideration, any such
motion would require the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds
 of all MPs. Unlike other bills, constitutional amendments have
to go through three readings to be conclusively enacted.

The idea of the revisions is "to reorganize the judiciary in
line with international standards, as a prerequisite for
overcoming the systemic deficits in Bulgaria's constitutional
democracy," the movers of the bill wrote in their reasoning.

Under the draft legislation, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC)
will be restructured and reorganized. The 25-member Council will
 be divided into a judges' and a prosecutors' college. The
judges college will consist of 13 members, of whom six will be
elected by the General Assembly of Judges, five by the National
Assembly, and two will be the presidents of the Supreme Court of
 Cassation and of the Supreme Administrative Court. The
prosecutors' college will have 12 members, of whom four will be
elected by the General Assembly of Judges, one by the General
Assembly of Investigating Magistrates, six by Parliament, and
the remaining one will be the Prosecutor General. This
arrangement preserves the three quotas that send members to the
Council: a parliamentary quota (11 members), a professional
quota (11 members), and an ex officio quota (3 members).

The colleges will be independent in performing their
personnel-management and organizational functions, disciplining
magistrates, and giving opinions on bills within their
respective competence. On matters concerning the judiciary in
general, such as the judiciary budget, the SJC will adopt
decisions in plenary meetings.

The plenary meetings will be presided over by the Minister of
Justice in a non-voting capacity. The judges' college will be
chaired by the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, and
the prosecutors' college by the Prosecutor General.

The Justice Minister will no longer be vested with a power to
manage the property of the judiciary, and the plenary SJC will
be assigned the management of the immovable properties.

The bill adds the Supreme Bar Council to the range of entities
competent to approach the Constitutional Court when citizens'
rights and freedoms are violated by a law.

DEBATE

"A consensus is taking shape as the nearest approximation to the
 understanding of these amendments as a national project,"
Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov said, addressing Parliament
during the debate. "These amendments cannot belong either to a
particular majority or to a particular government or to a
particular minister. This can only be a change implemented by
the entire National Assembly," he pointed out.

"The proposed amendments lay the foundations of a structural
reform of the judiciary, but they do not exhaust this reform.
What can possibly be adopted as amendments to the Constitution
will then have to be built upon by revisions of the Judicial
System Act and the rest of legislation," the Justice Minister
said.

"The bill is consistent with established Constitutional Court
case-law regarding the form of state government in the part
concerning the judiciary," Tsacheva said, presenting the draft
legislation.

During the plenary debate, MPs of GERB, the Reformist Bloc, the
Patriotic Front, the MRF and the BDC said they back the
constitutional amendments and will support them on first
reading.

ABV said that they will abstain with the exception of their
floor leader, who will vote in favour as a token of support for
the amendments to the Constitution and a readiness to share in
their further improvement. "We are in favour of a constitutional
 reform in the first two points of the bill but oppose the
provision that equalizes the parliamentary quota to the
professional quota [in the prosecutors' college], this enables
politicians to influence the professionals," ABV Floor Leader
Borislav Borissov said.

The MRF share the opinion on the need to guarantee that
magistrates preponderate in both colleges. The Movement called
that the most controversial clause be rephrased before the
second reading so as to categorically proclaim the independence
of all three components of the judiciary: court, prosecution
service and investigating magistracy. 

BSP-Left Bulgaria said they will not vote in favour of the
revisions and pointed out that the Constitution is being amended
 by a "precarious majority". "The unprincipled majority will
hardly mislead our partners in Europe and the citizens, which is
 why BSP-Left Bulgaria will not support the constitutional
amendments on first reading," the parliamentary group's Floor
Leader Mihail Mikov said.

Ataka did not take the floor during the debate.

PM, JUSTICE MINISTER SOLICIT SUPPORT

"One hundred and eighty votes is not a fateful number, but it
makes it possible to fast-track what we have agreed on and is
voted through by the National Assembly," Bulgarian Prime
Minister Boyko Borissov said here on Wednesday, replying to a
reporter's question in Parliament's lobby. In the morning,
Borissov, together with Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov, attended
 a meeting of the National Assembly presiding body.

"We came here with Minister Ivanov to ask all political parties
and MPs to support the change because it is important to us and
would be a good sign to our partners in Brussels," Borissov
said.

"One hundred and sixty votes at the plenary sitting are
guaranteed," Ivanov confirmed. "The point is to get 180 votes,
which will ensure the fast progress of the bill, so that a
result can be achieved before the January report [on the EC
Cooperation and  Verification Mechanism], which will be
important in terms of foreign policy." The Justice Minister
added that today he received very strong support from the Prime
Minister.

In his words, there are various options about the allocation of
quotas in the Supreme Judicial Council, which is one of the
principal moot points, but a solution must be found before the
bill comes up for a second reading.