site.btaMovement for Rights and Freedoms Does not Support Reformist Bloc's Constitutional Amendments

Movement for Rights and Freedoms Does not Support Reformist Bloc's  Constitutional Amendments

Sofia, July 15 (BTA) - The Reformist Bloc (RB) did not get the
Movement for Rights and Freedoms' (MRF) support for the
constitutional amendments related to the Judiciary, which
Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov proposed. Radan Kanev, Nayden
Zelenogorski, Peter Moskov and Atanas Atanassov of the RB talked
 with MRF leader Lyutvi Mestan for about an hour and a half in
Parliament.

Emerging from the meeting, both political forces separately
described the discussion as concrete and constructive, but
without having contributed to their positions getting any
closer.

The RB held negotiations with the Bulgarian Socialist Party last
 week in the presence of  Ivanov, which also did not
produce any results.

Mestan said that if the constitutional amendments are tabled in
Parliament on first reading next week, as the majority wishes,
his MPs will likely not vote. The MRF will not vote against the
constitutional reform, Mestan said, adding however, that his
party may be willing to participate in the judicial reform's
implementation through another project, which could be on an
even larger scale.

According to him, the judicial reform should be implemented
after an agreement is reached between the well-established
parties, which, based on that, can form a constitutional
majority and implement the judicial reform after the local
elections, as a product of common will.

The MRF leader set yet another condition - when someone wants
support from the MRF for a full government term in office,
through support for the Constitution, they must remember that
the ultranationalists are part of this coalition and that is
unacceptable for the MRF.

Mestan's party further proposes that discussions start for
reaching a preliminary agreement on the reform's content and
direction, not only with constitutional amendments, but also
amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Penal Code,
 which can be put in motion after the local elections.

The MRF leader added that Ivanov's current project has
been discredited to a certain degree because of the wrong
approach used to impose it.

Kanev said that the objections against the proposed
constitutional amendments are rather political, adding that it
is unacceptable for the RB to have the whole complex -
constitutional reform, judicial legislation and reforming the
judiciary - adopted after the local elections. According to him,
 one of the reasons is that trust between political forces in
Parliament is not at a level that permits such a delay.

The RB's goal remains unchanged - 180 votes next week in favour
of the constitutional amendments, drafted by  Ivanov's
team.

***

President Rosen Plevneliev held a working meeting on Wednesday
with Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov, said the President's
Press Secretariat. Plevneliev maintains regular dialogue with
the institutions, responsible for conducting key reforms in the
country, among which is the judicial reform, which will be
discussed in Parliament. In relation to this, the President will
 continue to have working meetings about the referendum that he
has proposed and the judicial reform.