site.btaConstitutional Court to Rule on Merits of Both Challenges to Basic Law Revisions

Bulgaria's Constitutional Court has unanimously decided to examine on the merits two challenges to the constitutionality of the latest amendments to the Constitution passed on December 20, 2023, according to a press release that was published on the Court's website on Friday.

Because of their similar subject matter, two two cases will be examined by the Constitutional Court jointly, as a single Case No. 1/2024. Three rapporteurs have been designated: the Court's President Pavlina Panova, judge Mariana Karagiozova-Finkova, and judge Sonya Yankulova.

One of the cases was instituted on a January 8, 2024 petition by President Rumen Radev, who argues that several revisions are unconstitutional: the abolition of the president's power to dissolve the National Assembly if it is incapable of rendering up a government, the eligibility of dual nationals for MPs and government ministers, the limited options for the appointment of a caretaker prime minister, the curtailment of the caretaker cabinet's powers to organizing free and fair elections, the provision that the presidents of the two supreme courts and the prosecutor general will be presumed appointed or dismissed if the head of State fails to issue a decree on any such proposal within seven days, and the empowerment of Parliament to introduce, at its discretion, a qualified majority for the election of particular regulatory authorities.

The other case was initiated on January 11, 2024 by 48 MPs of Vazrazhdane and There Is Such a People, who argued that the amending law is unconstitutional in its entirety. The lawmakers insist that a large part of the revisions fall within the competence of a Grand National Assembly, including the curtailment of the prosecutor general's powers, the change of the prosecutor general's term of office and the manner of appointment of the two supreme courts' presidents and the prosecutor general. The MPs also assert that Parliament breached the established procedure for the adoption of the constitutional amendments.

The Constitutional Court will examine and decide the cases jointly because of a similarity of their subject matter.