site.btaKuneva, Ivanov, Vouchkov Present Bulgaria's Progress in Justice and Home Affairs to EC Mission

120 POLITICS - JUSTICE - DEPUTY PM - MINISTERS - EC

Kuneva, Ivanov, Vouchkov Present Bulgaria's Progress in Justice and Home Affairs to
EC Mission


Sofia, December 11 (BTA) - Addressing representatives of the
European Commission (EC), Deputy Prime Minister for European
Policy and Institutional Affairs Meglena Kuneva said: "We have a
 strong political commitment to carry out judicial reform, and
we shall seek the broadest possible agreement on it so the
specific measures can start to be implemented in the coming
months."

Kuneva, Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov and Interior Minister
Vesselin Vouchkov Thursday held a working meeting with EC
experts who are on a three-day mission in Sofia before the
drawing up of a report under the Cooperation and Verification
Mechanism (CVM), the government information service said.

Regarding the Judicial Reform Strategy, Kuneva said the
government and Parliament would find an appropriate answer to
the Supreme Judicial Council's remark that dividing it into
sections for judges and prosecutors would require amendments to
the Constitution. Kuneva said cooperation would be sought with
all parliamentary groups to secure the largest possible majority
 supporting the Strategy.

Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov said that drafting the Strategy
and rallying support from the judiciary was a major
unprecedented step forward. He said he expected the Council of
Ministers to adopt the Strategy next week. It envisages changes
to meet the EC's recommendations for creating an independent and
 efficient judicial system.

Kuneva, Ivanov and Vouchkov said the adoption of a new Penal
Code was a medium-term task, which should be accomplished
alongside the drafting of much-needed amendments to the
effective Penal Code. Two interdepartmental groups are to be set
 up to draft the amendments.

Vouchkov said the amendments to the Interior Ministry Act
debated in Parliament now would solve many problems in
investigation caused by the transfer of the Chief Directorate
for Combating Organized Crime to the State Agency for National
Security in 2013.

Kuneva said she was planning a public hearing of the candidates
to chair the Centre for Prevention and Counteraction of
Corruption and Organized Crime (BORKOR).

Kuneva also stressed that the CVM should by no means be linked
to the country's entry into the Schengen area. She expects this
to be stated in the EC document.

The roadmap for the implementation of measures was reviewed,
with an accent on the investigation service, the Specialized
Prosecution Office, the fight against corruption and random case
 allocation. The Justice Minister said: "We will not tolerate
the random case allocation system as it is now."