site.btaLegal Affairs Committee in Parliament to Consider Proposed Amendments to Judicial System Act

The Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs in Parliament will meet Tuesday on the proposed amendments to the Judicial System Act, according to the draft agenda for the meeting published on the National Assembly's website.

On Monday, the Committee voted unanimously to prepare a joint draft based on the bills for changes to the law adopted in the first vote. On January 8, MPs adopted at first reading all three draft laws on changes to the Judicial System Act related to the election of a new Prosecutor General. Two of the bills, that of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and that of There Is Such a People (TISP), were unanimously supported with 222 votes in favour.

Vazrazhdane’s bill was supported with 193 votes in favour, 28 against, and no abstentions. Against them were the deputies from the parliamentary group of MRF-New Beginning. The amendment provides that the Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with an expired mandate cannot conduct the procedure and vote on proposals for Prosecutor General, President of the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) and President of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC).

A proposal tabled by Nadezhda Yordanova of CC-DB and a group of MPs stipulates that all members of the SJC, not only those from the Prosecutor's College, will be able to nominate a Prosecutor General.

Among the proposals is the termination of the procedures initiated for the election of the Prosecutor General and the President of the SAC. For the second procedure there are no candidates yet. Borislav Sarafov is a candidate for the first one.

A proposal for changes in the Judicial System Act has also been submitted by TISP Floor Leader Toshko Yordanov and a group of MPs. Among their ideas is that the structure of the prosecutor's office should follow that of the courts that hear criminal cases. This provision is part of the 2023 constitutional amendments and has not been declared unconstitutional. According to the petitioners, the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office should be deleted from the content of the Act on this basis, as part of the structure of the prosecution service, and it should be made a department.