Bulgaria govt proposes amendments to Judicial System Act

 Bulgarian Council of Ministers proposed amendments to the Judicial System Act, the press service of the government announced on Wednesday.
The amendments in question envisage the direct election of Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) members from the magistrates’ quota under clear conditions and in secret voting, while decisions on magistrates’ appointment, promotion, and dismissal will be taken separately by the judges’ collegium and the prosecutors’ collegiums under the condition of open voting and without magistrates abstaining during voting.
The government proposed the amendments are approved by the National Assembly.
The amendments take into account the passed constitutional amendments and implement the main measures in the updated strategy for continuation of the judicial reform.
The new texts take into account the recommendations and standards of the Council of Europe and the EU as to the organisation of the judiciary and the court’s independence. They aim to ensure the SJC’s status as an independent and efficient body that guarantees transparent appointments in the judicial system and is trusted by the public, judges, prosecutors, and investigators.
The change to the SJC’s structure and organisation follows the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the Consultative Council of European Judges of the Council of Europe and promotes the judiciary’s independence not allowing SJC members representing prosecutors and investigators to take part in the solving of cadre and disciplinary matters of judges and vice versa.
The draft bill restricts the possibility of influence from parliamentary represented political parties on cadre-related decisions and voting on the part of the judges’ collegium and the prosecutors and investigators’ collegium in the SJC through the introduction of a qualified majority of 8 members for the judges’ collegium and 6 members of the prosecutors’ collegium.
The transparency of decisions taken by both collegiums and Plenum is guaranteed through open voting and eliminating the possibility of abstaining.
The SJC Plenum will have the power to settle matters that are common for the judicial system.
The way of election of SJC members with the National Assembly’s quota has also been worked out in detail (6 members for the judges’ collegiums and 5 for the prosecutors and investigators’ collegium) as well as the way of election of SJC members with the professional quota of judges (6 members), investigators (1 member), and prosecutors (4 members).
The new texts require MPs to point out which collegium they nominate candidates for SJC members for. The nominees need to be backed by at least two-thirds of legislators to be elected.
Bulgarian Minister of Justice Ekaterina Zaharieva spoke with journalists after Wednesday’s regular sitting of the government, announcing important news and making comments.
“The Council of Ministers approved and passed a decision on tabling a draft bill on amendments and supplements to the Judicial System Act that reflects at a legislative level the passed constitutional amendments,” she said.
Ms Zaharieva recalled they envisaged in the first place the split of the SJC into two collegiums with clearly set powers of the collegiums and plenum.
“A crucially important thing here is envisaging a qualified majority in the two collegiums when taking cadre-related decisions – appointments, disciplinary proceedings, career advancement, and competitions,” the minister remarked.
She clarified it was envisaged in the amendments a decision would not be passed if backed by less than 8 members of the judges’ quota and less than 6 members of the prosecutors’ quota.
“It is thus guaranteed the parliamentary quota only will not be able to take such decisions on its own,” Ekaterina Zaharieva stated.
This is the first amendment to the Judicial System Act.
According to the Constitution, it was supposed to be passed within 3 months. The deadline expires on March 22.
The second amendment to the law has to become a fact by end-April.
“An explicit ban will be introduced on SJC members abstaining from voting,” the official went on to say.
“SJC members have very often abstained without presenting arguments in favour of or against something, thus blocking very important decisions. In this way, everyone will bear responsibility over certain decisions,” Minister Zaharieva remarked.
She added it was explicitly said the magistrates’ decisions should be motivated.
“A text, according to which unmotivated acts will be overturned by the Supreme Administrative Court only on these grounds, is explicitly envisaged,” the cabinet member noted.
“The proposal concerning SJC members’ being able to continue exercising their authorities until there is a new line-up [of the institution] is unconstitutional,” the justice minister remarked.
The government official explained the magistrates’ proposal had not been included in the legislative amendments despite being made in the SJC’s official stance.
“There are several rulings of the Constitutional Court that stress a constitutionally determined mandate cannot be extended with a law,” Zaharieva explained.
“Therefore, we envisaged long enough deadlines for launching the procedure,” the minister was explicit.
According to her, 6 months is a sufficient period of time to hold elections of 5,000 to 6,000 people.
Asked if it was envisaged in the amendments for the SJC members to have access to classified information, Ekaterina Zaharieva replied the proposal had not been discussed as it had been made by the working groups on Tuesday.
“It has not been coordinated with the institution and could not be backed at this stage. I will raise this issue in the second amendment to the Judicial System Act, which will be tabled by end-April, and it will be discussed with everyone,” the high-ranking official remarked further.

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