site.btaLegal Committee Adopts at First Reading Draft Budget of Judiciary for 2025

The Parliamentary Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs adopted on Wednesday at first reading the draft budget of the judiciary for 2025 with 13 votes in favour, three against, and three abstentions. 

Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev explained that the draft budget, prepared jointly by the Supreme Judicial Council and the Ministry of Finance, is within the forecast. “Naturally, there can be no rhythm and absolute predictability of revenues. If, in the course of implementing the budget, the forecasts are found to be unrealistic, adjustments could be made accordingly. We cannot give a forecast on how much and how the Bulgarian citizens will be sued,“ he added.

He said that the forecast they gave was of the actual budget implementation. “We have planned the draft budget within a realistic approach for revenue analysis,” Minister Georgiev said. 

If the draft budget proposed by the Council of Ministers is adopted, it will guarantee funding for the inspectorate mainly for staff costs, ongoing maintenance and insurance. It will not guarantee funds for indexation of wages, as well as the increase in the costs of raw materials and services, given the prices of energy sources. In addition, it will make it more difficult for the inspectorate to fulfil its duties, said the Inspector General of the Inspectorate of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), Teodora Tochkova.