site.btaConstitutional Changes Get Necessary Support on First Reading to Be Fast-tracked for Adoption

Constitutional Changes Get Necessary Support on First Reading to Be Fast-tracked for Adoption

Sofia, September 23 (BTA) - Parliament supported on first
reading a bill of amendments to the Constitution moved by the
leader of the legislature, Tsetska Tsacheva, and a group of MPs.
 184 deputies voted "for", 34 "agaist and eight abstained.

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.

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 National Assembly Chair and a group of MPs who
moved the bill wrote in their reasoning.

Under the bill, 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.