site.btaAudit Office, Venice Commission Discuss Election of Regulatory and Oversight Authorities' Members

National Audit Office (NAO) President Dimitar Glavchev met with representatives of the Venice Commission to discuss a proposed Bulgarian reform concerning the election and appointment of members to independent regulatory and oversight authorities, NAO said on Friday. The reform is envisaged in a bill to amend the Constitution.

The meeting was also attended by former NAO president Valeri Dimitrov, the current NAO leader's chief of cabinet Kosta Stoyanchev and officials of the Council for Electronic Media and the Bulgarian National Bank. The Venice Commission (officially the European Commission for Democracy through Law) was represented by its Deputy Secretary Delphine Freymann, member Qerim Qerimi of Kosovo and former member James Hamilton of Ireland.

Glavchev said that, as far as NAO is concerned, the principles of accountability and transparency, proposed by the MPs for electing members to independent regulatory and oversight authorities, are already applied. This is evidenced by the procedural rules which the National Assembly follows in electing the NAO president, vice presidents and members. The rules include requirements about the professionalism of the applicants, the publication of the documents supporting their applications, and their open hearings.

Glavchev further noted that the principle of limiting the number of successive terms in office for the members of independent regulatory and oversight authorities, which is one of the MPs' proposals for a constitutional reform, has already been established by the NAO Act, which says that the NAO president may not be reelected.

Valeri Dimitrov, the former NAO chief, drew attention to some practical issues related to the implementation of the proposed constitutional provisions on electing the leaders of regulatory and oversight authorities.