site.btaLegal Affairs Committee Upholds Presidential Veto on Reinstatement of Powers of Judicial Council, Prosecutor General

The parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee Wednesday upheld President Rumen Radev's veto on the reinstatement of powers of the Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and the Prosecutor General through revisions to the Criminal Procedure Code.

On February 1, Parliament amended the Criminal Procedure Code to extend the operation of the current SJC and its Plenum until a new Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and a new Supreme Prosecutorial Council (SPC) are elected. The revisions also reinstate powers of the Prosecutor General and his deputies curtailed through amendments to the Constitution of December 19, 2023.

On February 12, the President vetoed the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code. He argued that the widely vaunted judicial reform through the recent amendments to the Constitution was practically cancelled for an indefinite period by the transitional and final provisions of the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code adopted on February 1. He said this was a deliberate disregard of the supremacy of the Constitution and its immediate effect.

Stoyu Stoev MP of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria said his parliamentary group would not vote to readopt the amendments. New provisions will be proposed which do not lend themselves to misinterpretation so as to ensure the smooth functioning of the judicial system.

Radomir Cholakov MP of GERB-UDF said that the adoption of the Constitution was rushed. It was said at the time, however, that in the interest of political expediency and Bulgaria's Schengen accession, the Basic Law should be amended quickly, Cholakov said.

MPs of Vazrazhdane, There Is Such a People, and BSP for Bulgaria also spoke in favour of a revision of the current provisions. Petar Petrov MP of Vazrazhdane warned that if Parliament overrode the presidential veto, his parliamentary group would seek support from other groups for petitioning the Constitutional Court.