site.btaDeputy Prime Minister Urges Supreme Judicial Council Members to Resign

Deputy Prime Minister Urges Supreme Judicial Council Members to Resign

Sofia, January 26 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva urged the members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to tender their resignations because this body has allegedly already lost its reputation. According to Kuneva, however, it is important
to comply this act with the upcoming adoption of a new Judiciary Act in around three months' time since it will contain new rules for the election of SJC members.

Asked whether all SJC members should resign, Kuneva replied that this is a matter of personal decision but that if she were in their place, she would have withdrawn to preserve her reputation.

Kuneva recalled that the idea of the Reformist Bloc is that the contacts between magistrates and politicians be public. "We will again ask for support of these provisions in Parliament, so that it would be clear that communications with the judiciary at processional level cannot be informal," Kuneva also said. She was obviously referring to a scandal with a text message, which Prime Minister Boyko Borissov sent to Panov, an outspoken critic of the status quo in the judiciary, which was shown to the press by Supreme Cassation Court (SCC) President Lozan Panov himself. The message read: "Lozan Panov again proposed to summon you to a hearing at the SJC over the wiretapped conversations. The proposal was rejected". It appears that Borissov forwarded to Panov a message he had received from a SJC member, keeping him updated in real time on the proceedings at the SJC.

Commenting on the European Commission's report assessing progress under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) in judicial reform, the fight against corruption, and the fight against organised crime, which is about to be released on Wednesday, Kuneva said there are no indications that Bulgaria may be separated from Romania in the assessment process.

Kuneva also said that the anti-corruption law is ready and is being discussed with the parliamentary groups.