site.btaNational Assembly Chair Kiselova Criticizes Lapsed Mandates in Key State Institutions
Chair of the National Assembly Nataliya Kiselova said Wednesday the longstanding failure of successive parliaments to renew the terms of a number of public bodies, including those in the judiciary, is irresponsible.
Kiselova was speaking on Wednesday at a public discussion on the rule of law in the European Union and the state of Bulgaria’s judicial system, organized by the Faculty of Law’s Department of International Law and International Relations and the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives.
Kiselova noted that the current legislature has begun replacing members whose mandates have lapsed. While some nominees may not be beyond doubt, she said, the priority is to restart the work of State bodies and end the stalemate.
She added that the procedure for electing new members of the Counter-Corruption Commission will start before the summer recess. On vacancies in the Supreme Judicial Council and its Inspectorate, she said the matter should first be examined by the Legal Affairs Committee in Parliament and expressed confidence that magistrates would show the same persistence already demonstrated by legal professionals.
In her view, the composition of the Inspectorate and the Supreme Judicial Council should be renewed before any amendments to the Judicial System Act. Altering the election procedure itself would delay the vote by at least six months, she warned. As for constitutional reform, Kiselova said limiting the prosecution service’s powers is worthwhile but opposed reopening the Constitution in the present parliament, which she described as containing many anti-systemic actors.
At the start of the year, Kiselova noted, some bodies had been operating with expired terms since 2017, yet several vacancies have since been filled. According to the National Assembly website, procedures are now under way to elect an Ombudsman, the governor and deputy governor of the National Social Security Institute, a member of the Bulgarian National Audit Office and the chair and four members of the Commission for Public Oversight of Statutory Auditors.
/NZ/
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