site.btaUPDATED President Urges Resolute Actions against "Political and Oligarchic Influences on Judicial System"

Addressing the participants in a discussion and the competent public institutions, President Rumen Radev said on Tuesday that, "based on the ample information available," they should "take resolute actions against the political and oligarchic influences on the judicial system." Radev said the newly inaugurated National Assembly and the new government should take this task very seriously and should pay due attention to the upcoming personnel appointments in the judicial system.

The discussion, titled Where to Next with the Judicial System?, has been organized by the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives. It involves members of the judiciary, MPs and experts.

Radev said: "Some politicians seemed to think that changing the national holiday and stripping the President of his powers vis-a-vis the caretaker governments was more important than initiating an in-depth and full-scale parliamentary expert debate to seek sustainable solutions for judicial reform. The constitutional procedure was spurred on, which robbed the matter of its seriousness in the eyes of Bulgarian citizens."

According to the President, the shady dealings in the judiciary over the last few years did not meet with an adequate institutional response, which was "a flagrant demonstration of impunity and powerlessness."

"If the influence networks continue to exist, they can undermine any reform," he warned.

One of the problems is "the interference of the prosecution service in the political process." "The prosecuting magistracy, mainly due to the politicians, has become an instrument for state governance. In the well-established democracies, the formation of the government is based on a parliamentary majority, but in Bulgaria, the parliamentary majority is sometimes based on a decision about the prosecutor general or a decision by the prosecutor general," Radev commented.

He noted that there have been no effective investigations into any of the reported offences in the upper echelons of power over the last 30 years, no culprits have been named, and no one has been punished.

"The inaction of Parliament, particularly as regards appointments in the judiciary, has very serious consequences," Radev said. He emphasized that the Supreme Judicial Council has worked years beyond its tenure.