site.btaConstitutional Amendment Bill Moved to Parliament

Constitutional Amendment Bill Moved to Parliament

Sofia, May 27 (BTA) - A bill to amend and supplement the
Bulgarian Constitution was moved to the National Assembly
(Parliament) and made accessible to the public via the
legislature's website www.parliament.bg. The bill concerns
constitutional provisions relevant to the judicial system.

It was signed by 132 out of a total of 240 MPs. The signatories
are from the parliamentary groups of GERB, the Reformist Bloc,
the Patriotic Front and the Bulgarian Democratic Centre (BDC).
The bill's sponsors include National Assembly Chair Tsetska
Tsacheva, GERB Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Patriotic Front
Floor Leader Valeri Simeonov, Reformist Bloc Co-Chairs Radan
Kanev and Naiden Zelenogorski and BDC Co-Chair Krassimira
Kovachka.

The proposed law says that the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC)
will consist of a College of Judges and a College of
Prosecutors.

The College of Judges will comprise 13 members, including the
presidents of the Supreme Cassation Court and the Supreme
Administrative Court, six members elected by the General
Assembly of Judges and five members elected by the National
Assembly.

The College of Prosecutors will comprise 12 members, including
the Prosecutor General, four members elected by the General
Assembly of Prosecutors, one by the General Assembly of
Investigators and six by the National Assembly.

The SJC Plenum will consist of all SJC members, the bill says.
The functions of the Plenum will include adopting a draft budget
for the judicial system and submitting it to the National
Assembly for approval, terminating an elected SJC member's term
in office, and making proposals to the President of Bulgaria
about appointing or removing the presidents of the Supreme
Cassation Court and the Supreme Administrative Court and the
Prosecutor General. Plenum meetings will be chaired by the
Minister of Justice, who however will not take part in Plenum
votes.

The bill proposes to revoke a constitutional provision
establishing a secret voting procedure in SJC for the
appointment, promotion, demotion, transfer and removal of
judges, prosecutors and investigators.

The term in office of elected SJC members will be reduced from
five to four years.

The Supreme Bar Council will be allowed to alert the
Constitutional Court about any legislation that affects the
status of the Bar as a free, independent and self-governing
system or violates citizens' rights and freedoms.