EC: We are monitoring the current judicial appointments

The European Commission (EC) is closely monitoring the selection of inspectors with the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and the topic will be covered in the monitoring report for January, said yesterday at a briefing in Brussels EC Spokesman, Mark Gray. A group of Bulgarian non-governmental organisations sent a letter to the European Commission and to the Bulgarian Parliament, in which they insisted on the suspension of the seemingly "formal and transparent" appointment procedure. An extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly was scheduled for tomorrow, which will vote on candidates. The EC commented that the problem of selection of inspectors with the SJC Inspectorate was mentioned in a letter to the newly-elected Justice Minister, Diana Kovacheva.

"We expect the nominations to meet the requirement for full transparency and to comply with the relevant procedures. This will be highlighted in the next report in late January or early February next year," said EC Spokesman Mark Gray and confirmed that the letter of the Bulgarian non-governmental organisations was received by the Commission.

"For the second time this year, we are witnessing the vicious way in which Parliament tackles the issue of staffing appointments to positions of decisive importance for the condition of the judicial system in Bulgaria and the possibility of reforming it," read the NGOs' statement, including the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives, the Bulgarian Judges Association and the Centre for Liberal Strategies.

Yonko Grozev from the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee stated before Klassa daily that this procedure fails to take into account the moral qualities of the candidates. He added that, once appointed, inspectors will operate in the judicial system for a long period of time. "I hope this vicious election practice is discontinued," added the lawyer.

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