Completing the judicial reform process requires serious legislative changes, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said during a Q&A session for the media and citizens on Facebook Thursday morning. He outlined the steps already taken and what remains to be done.
The judicial reform began with the bills adopted in Parliament' last session; they were related to overseeing the Prosecutor General's activity and the option to investigate them, Denkov said. Those were the first steps in that direction, he added.
In the coming days, he expects development on the Counter-corruption and Unlawfully Acquired Assets Forfeiture Act, on which the European Commission and the Venice Commission have made recommendations. "According to my latest information, there is agreement on how the bill to be voted on in Parliament will look like. I expect it to be adopted in the coming days," Denkov said.
According to him, the draft amendments to the Constitution should be adopted simultaneously. "That will require a bit more time. The plan is do it by the end of the year. At the same time, the changes in the structure and members of the Supreme Judicial Council should be prepared. That will take another several months but is key for us to know that the system is in the right order, with minimum political influence. The judicial system's big vice is that it is strongly dependent on the political forces. That is what we are trying to remove," Denkov explained.
The Prime Minister said that in early 2023, he attended the presentation of the Anti-Corruption Fund's annual report, where information was made public about some 13 to 14 corruption proceedings and only one conviction. In his words, there obviously are problems in the judicial system, and his government is trying to solve them.
/DS/
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