site.btaMP Atanas Slavov Warns against Complacency after End of PACE Monitoring

The Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Parliamentary Group came up with a declaration on Thursday, warning that Bulgaria should not be complacent just because the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has lifted its monitoring of Bulgaria.

Reading out the declaration in the debating chamber of the National Assembly, Atanas Slavov MP said: “Let us not be comforted by the conclusion of the PACE monitoring over Bulgaria — the problems remain.”

Earlier, Stanislav Balabanov, Deputy Floor Leader of There Is Such a People (TISP), read a declaration regarding the ending of PACE monitoring and demanded that Nadejda Iordanova MP of CC-DB explain why she abstained when then resolution was put to the vote. On Wednesday, PACE decided to end the post-monitoring dialogue with Bulgaria and will continue to follow the country’s progress through periodic reviews.

Slavov, who is also former justice minister, commented: “We witnessed the triumph of the parliamentary majority regarding the closure of a monitoring procedure at the Council of Europe, which only a small part of Bulgarian citizens are actually aware of — the so-called post-monitoring dialogue, a mechanism that has been applied in Bulgaria for around 30 years, and for which many recommendations still remain.”

“The resolution, which was rightly adopted, contains several very important comments and recommendations. We have problems with the rule of law and the judiciary. The structure of the Supreme Judicial Council does not meet European standards and does not guarantee independent, politically neutral management of the judicial system,” he pointed out.

“We have issues with the prosecution, largely the unchecked power of the prosecutor general, a post we have not truly had for two and a half years,” Slavov added. “All of this remains on the table and is included in the report that concluded the post-monitoring dialogue,” he noted. He also mentioned that, at their suggestion, the report includes a paragraph on political arrests from this summer.

Slavov warned: “Let us not be deceived into thinking that Bulgaria is a fully-fledged rule-of-law state, that all our fundamental problems have been solved, and that we should simply celebrate the closure of an already archaic monitoring mechanism,” said Slavov. “Let us not be complacent that by correctly ending the post-monitoring dialogue mechanism, we do not end up under another mechanism — full monitoring.”

The ex-justice minister criticized the parliamentary majority for lacking initiative to solve the remaining problems, noting that no bills have been tabled. “We at CC-DB are trying to offer solutions to these issues through concrete legislative initiatives,” he said, urging that these be considered and adopted.

Slavov went on to remark: “Why do I say this mechanism should have been closed? Because significant progress has been made in recent years — for example, at our initiative, the specialized judiciary was abolished.” The MP pointed out the adoption of a mechanism for the independent investigation of the prosecutor general. “It’s not right to take credit for others’ achievements,” Slavov appealed. “When you have contributed very little to a positive outcome yet claim the results as your own, it is neither good nor appropriate for public discourse.”

Bozhidar Bozhanov, co-leader of Yes, Bulgaria (part of Democratic Bulgaria), stated that the bill to abolish the specialized judiciary was submitted by the Council of Ministers, specifically the then Minister of Justice Nadejda Iordanova. According to him, abstaining from the vote does not oppose the resolution. “This is our message to society: we cannot say that everything is fine with the judiciary, given the state of the rule of law,” Bozhanov said. “Pressing ‘yes’ would be ridiculous,” he added.