site.btaUPDATED Legal Affairs Committee Greenlights Halting Prosecutor General's Election

On Tuesday, the National Assembly Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs granted second-reading approval to a portion of an omnibus bill to amend the Judicial Power Act. In the transitional and final provisions of the bill, the committee unanimously approved a text to halt the procedure for electing a prosecutor general.

The text says: "Ongoing procedures under Article 173, Paragraph 1, not completed by presidential decree of appointment by the date of promulgation of this law, shall be discontinued."

The draft amendments to the Judicial Power Act were partly inspired by a widespread sentiment against acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov. Some politicians and media commented on Tuesday that, after the vote in the committee, the bill practically leaves Sarafov in his position as acting Prosecutor General. Moreover, the election of a new prosecutor general is scheduled for January 16, and Sarafov is the only candidate. The law halting the election procedure is unlikely to be promulgated before that.

The committee also okayed another text in the transitional and final provisions of the bill, stipulating that within six months of the entry of this law into force, the National Assembly and the judicial authorities will start a procedure for a new election of members to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

Maya Dimitrova (BSP-United Left), who chaired the committee meeting, told the media that the bill is likely to be discussed by the full House on Wednesday. "The powers of the present Prosecutor General [Borislav Sarafov] should be terminated and the election procedure to the post should be completely transparent," Dimitrova commented.

"The SJC is supposed to drop the procedure for electing a prosecutor general if the public opinion and the will of the MPs are to be respected," Dimitrova noted.

Asked whether the text approved by the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee does not represent an instance of interference in the work of the judiciary, Dimitrova said that, for moral reasons, the prosecutor general should not be elected by an expired SJC (as is the case with the present council), although this is not prohibited by law.

Petar Petrov (Vazrazhdane) said the committee approved almost none of the substantive proposals concerning the halting of the prosecutor general's election. He said the only approved proposal on which the whole essence of the omnibus bill now rests is that election procedures not completed by presidential decree will be discontinued.

According to Petrov, the committee vote followed a deal for the new government concluded among GERB, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning. He speculated that MPs may be absent from the upcoming National Assembly sitting on Wednesday, which may affect the quorum or the vote.

Nadezhda Yordanova (Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria) said the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee may have greenlighted the discontinuation of the prosecutor general's election, but did not support the proposals which would ensure that judicial bodies would not serve beyond their fixed terms, thus practically leaving Borislav Sarafov in his position as acting Prosecutor General. "A debate is coming up in the chamber, and it will produce a final decision. After that, it will be up to the President of Bulgaria to decide how to exercise his powers," Yordanova said. She noted that it remains to be seen whether the quorum in the legislature will be manipulated on Wednesday.

Asked whether the halting of the prosecutor general's election amounts to interference in the work of the judiciary, Yordanova, a former justice minister, reasoned that, since the parliamentary committee has approved changes in the election procedure setting a minimum size for the candidates' concept statements and expanding the scope of background information to be checked and provided, it is normal from the point of view of legislative practice to say how the current procedures should be regulated under the new rules.

The committee agreed to drop the part of the bill concerning the seconding of judiciary members, assuming that the matter is addressed in detail in another bill to amend the Judicial Power Act, written by the Justice Ministry.

Two texts in the bill, regarded by analysts as crucial, were not supported by the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee. One of them envisioned that the SJC Plenum would conduct procedures for electing a prosecutor general, a president of the Supreme Court of Cassation and a president of the Supreme Administrative Court only within the tenure to which the SJC has been elected. The other text was about how the election procedure would continue if the President of Bulgaria refuses to sign a decree of appointment and returns the nomination, and about naming an acting prosecutor general, an acting president of the Supreme Court of Cassation and an acting president of the Supreme Administrative Court.