site.btaElectronic Justice, Programme Budgeting Feature Prominently on Justice System's Agenda

Electronic Justice, Programme Budgeting
Feature Prominently
on Justice System's Agenda


Sofia, September 16 (BTA) - As the new judicial season begins
this month, the justice system is confronted by a number of
issues, among them the election of the next president of the
Supreme Cassation Court (SCC), the development of electronic
justice, programme budgeting, and the problem of the
magistrates' workload, Velislava Delcheva, Board Chairwoman for
the Programme for the Development of the Judicial System, said
in a BTA interview.

The SCC president is to be elected by the Supreme Judicial
Council on September 25. The post is being contested by SCC Vice
 Presidents Tanya Raikovska and Pavlina Panova. According to
Delcheva, the election procedure is very elaborately defined and
 every single step of it is clear. "We have two candidates with
their respective concepts and it is clear who has nominated them
 and who supports them. The only uncertainty is how SCC is going
 to give a clear answer to the question of why it has preferred
one candidate over the other," Delcheva said.

She believes that competition is a good thing in this case. "I
even wished there were more candidates, because there is a lack
of ideas and innovative thinking," she said. Delcheva noted that
 citizens are not yet at the heart of the judicial reform, which
 means that public confidence in magistrates will remain low for
 a long time.

The introduction of electronic justice is a clear objective, but
 the process should be sped up considerably, she said.

"For the first time, programme budgeting in the justice system
has begun to be discussed this year. I think that next year much
 of the effort of managing the justice system should be directed
 at linking the budgets of individual bodies to their expected
results, measured with concrete indicators," Delcheva said.

Asked why most NGOs distrust the electronic voting system, she
said: "In my view, it does not matter what the electronic system
 is like. I do not trust the people who press the buttons."
SN/VE

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