site.btaSJC Judge Pashkounova on Forthcoming CVM Report: "We Are Not Perfect, But We Are Making Efforts"

Sofia, November 6 (BTA) - Commenting on the forthcoming European Commission report on Bulgaria's progress under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) judge Tsvetinka Pashkounova told BTA: "We expect that what we are doing and the magistrates' efforts for the implementation of the report's recommendations - regarding accounting, the judicial system's independence, and the quality of justice - will be recognized."

"I am not saying that we are perfect and that we have implemented everything required of us, but it seems to me that the colleagues are making efforts and I would like this to be reflected in the report," she went on to say. In her words, progress has been made but the question is whether it falls within the framework and parameters required.

Asked whether she sees division within the SJC after its new members' one month in office, Pashkounova said that there is rather an opposition of theses and ideas, and not personal confrontations as observed in the previous SJC.

Commenting on the idea for additional bonuses of up to six salaries for those working in the specialized courts and prosecution offices, Pashkounova said that the SJC was against the introduction of such bonuses for certain categories of judges, but the National Assembly did not take their position into view when adopting the revisions to the Judicial System Act. She explained that rules are about to be elaborated for the adoption of criteria based on which additional remunerations will be paid. According to Pashkounova, these criteria should be the judges' workload and the result of their work, which does not mean the number of convictions or acquittals.

Asked whether the SJC will consider an option where magistrates and prosecutors would not feel unequal, Pashkounova noted that first the decision of the Constitutional Court needs to be announced, concerning the revisions to the Code of Criminal Procedure referred to the court by the Supreme Court of Cassation. The revisions in question transfer high-level corruption cases from the Sofia City Court to specialized courts. If corruption cases are no longer within the competence of the Judiciary's specialized bodies, Parliament should reconsider its decision on bonuses, she added.

"We cannot make a given category of judges privileged and turn them into so-called judicial aristocrats, just because fate has placed them at a specialized court: this is unfair," the SJC judge said.

She described as ungrounded at this stage the proposal made by the SJC Chairperson that the number of permanent judges at the Specialized Court be increased by 15, adding that the decision of the Constitutional Court should first be heard. According to statistics, this is not one of Bulgaria's courts with big workload, she said. Opening additional positions for judges should be well motivated and based on serious arguments, she added. In her words, if the proposal is approved, the Specialized Court will need to move to a new building because the current one cannot provide the necessary working conditions for these 15 persons. The court has problems as it is with the space for judges and the archiving and storing of case files.