President Rumen Radev drew a backlash from representatives of the parliamentary majority for referring to the Constitutional Court the election of its two new judges earlier this week. Some had very strong words for the President’s actions.
On January 19, Parliament elected Desislava Atanasova and Borislav Belazelkov to the Constitutional Court. The former is the current GERB-UDF floor leader and was nominated by her party, and the latter is a long-serving judge who was nominated by Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria.
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Floor Leader Delyan Peevski said the matter of the judges election is closed, called on the head of state to resign and set up his own party, and called him "a pro-Russian president".
Peevski said: "The discussion about the Constitutional Court is over. Two worthy candidates have been elected and will be sworn in on Friday. There is no discussion about it. If President Radev has dignity, he should resign, establish his own party and stop diverting attention with closed matters."
"Radev is simply advancing his ‘March 3’ project at the moment, and that is why he is trying to go to war with the Euro-Atlantic majority, this pro-Russian president," Peevski said.
The MRF Floor Leader urged the President to resign “this very day” and launch his project rather than hide behind his immunity. Peevski argued that the President was afraid to stand as a leader, and that is why he would "yet again put forward some yappy dog, as he had done before".
In Peevski’s words, Radev is afraid to set up a party "because he is afraid [of losing] his immunity, the full immunity he currently has”.
The MRF Floor Leader also raised the issue of the President's relationship with the Prosecutor General and suggested that there may be “cases against the President that have been put in the freezer”.
He urged the President “to give answers”. “I think that the spotlight should be on the Presidency, this dark institution wallowing in cash," Peevski said.
GERB-UDF urged President Rumen Radev "not to put pressure on the independent Constitutional Court" over the election of new judges. Speaking to reporters, GERB-UDF MP Raya Nazaryan, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, said that the President has once again demonstrated his disagreement with the fact that the National Assembly is functioning, adopting important laws and decisions, which, in her words, clearly contradicts Radev’s understanding of one man running the state, as observed under his caretaker cabinets.
According to Nazaryan, the President has yet again showed that he seeks conflict with the National Assembly, aiming to weaken the stable parliamentary majority which is tasked with key reforms.
"In this regard, we remind the President that the judges he appoints on his quota, he appoints unilaterally, and the procedure the National Assembly conducted to elect Constitutional Court judges was public, transparent and open", the MP stressed.
Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria co-floor leader Atanas Atanasov said it is good the President took the matter to the court but slammed him for his appeal not to proceed with the swearing-in of the new judges on January 26. "He did well, let the Constitutional Court decide. […] But the President's appeal not to proceed with the swearing-in of the two newly elected judges is unacceptable”.
"What is quite brutal is that he is trying to sabotage the work of the Constitutional Court by calling for the oath not to take place on Friday," Atanasov added.
Atanasov also said that President Radev's behavior does not surprise him, because since the very beginning of the tenure of this National Assembly, the president has always clearly expressed his negative attitude towards the work of the parliament, the majority and the government.
Atanasov said that two judges on the current composition of the Court are appointed by the President - Atanas Semov and Yanaki Stoilov. "I have not heard of a public discussion about their choice and their appointment," he said.
TISP: Contesting the judges' election was "logical"
It was logical that President Rumen Radev would challenge the constitutionality of the election of two Constitutional Court judges, Stanislav Balabanov, Secretary of the There Is Such a People parliamentary group, told BTA on Tuesday.
Parliament elected Desislava Atanasova and Borislav Belazelkov as Constitutional Court judges on January 19. The parliamentary resolutions on their election explicitly mention that they will serve standard nine-year terms instead of seven years as ruled by the Constitutional Court, which was acting on a petition from the President. The ruling became effective on January 20.
Balabanov said the Constitutional Court could revoke Parliament's resolutions on the election of the two judges, which "seem unconstitutional anyway". "Both of them are not legitimate members of that Court because there are serious doubts about their moral principles. One is a professional, a judge, but with a questionable background in the past for many reasons. The other is a political button that will be pushed constantly and will not be able to make independent decisions," the MP said, referring to Belazelkov and Atanasova respectively.
Balabanov said he hoped that the Constitutional Court would "first declare unconstitutional the amendments to the Constitution because they are harmful," and second, that it would act according to the law and "if there are objective circumstances regarding the two nominees, the Court will stop them".
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