Open Society: The Supreme Judicial Court concentrates enormous power

“The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) concentrates enormous power in its hands, Ivanka Ivanova, Director of the Law Programme of the Open Society Institute, said today on the Bulgarian National Radio. According to her, the SJC has become a political player having much more power than the respective bodies in the other EU member-states. “Through massive single actions, the SJC is currently allowed to completely change the management and the higher levels of the judiciary,” she said.

Ivanova argued for the necessity of constitutional amendments, including the division of the SJC in two and the reduction of the parliamentary quota in it. Regarding specialised courts, she commented that their establishment is “unnecessary” and is aimed at distracting the attention from institutions which need to be reformed, namely the Prosecution and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“It would be a sign of reform if an answer is given to the question why for more than 10 years capital expenditures of the Interior Ministry have been less than 3% of its budget. This is decapitalisation of the system,” said Ivanova.

According to her, 90% of the Interior Ministry’s budget and a significant percentage of the money of the judiciary are being set aside for salaries.

Прочети цялата новина

Свързани новини: