site.btaUPDATED Continue the Change Hosts Expert Discussion on Bulgarian Judicial System

There is a collapse across the judicial system, Continue the Change Chair Assen Vassilev said here on Friday at the opening of a public discussion on "A Just Bulgaria". The event was part of a series of debates mottoed "A Strong Bulgaria in a Strong Europe," initiated by the opposition political party.

"We see that the prevailing feeling among citizens and businesses is that at any moment someone can take away your business and there is no court where you can expect a fair trial and rules that apply equally," Vassilev said.

"The purpose of this discussion is to show the ugly truth and to see how it can be remedied through tangible action," he said. Vassilev also called on other political parties to organize similar discussions so that, when they enter Parliament, they have some level of public consensus. "If such a level of consensus does not exist, we will not achieve a prosperous, strong and just Bulgaria," the Continue the Change Chair said.

Union of Jurists in Bulgaria Chair Vladislav Slavov said it has already become awkward to even mention "judicial reform," but that reform begins with the Constitution itself, which provided for a new organization of the judiciary, as well as the establishment of the Supreme Judicial Council, the two supreme courts and the possibility of three-instance proceedings, among other changes. "The National Assembly itself remained inactive for more than five years, after which the judiciary began implementing constitutional changes on its own," he added.

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria MP Lena Borislavova said that by 2034 more than EUR 865 billion will be allocated to a mechanism monitoring EU Member States' compliance with rule of law criteria. These funds will be disbursed on condition that progress is demonstrated and on the basis of the European Commission's rule of law report.

"When public oversight is very limited, a lack of accountability and responsibility was allowed to develop within the justice system, which in turn led to its criminalization," said Yonko Grozev, Director of the Human Rights Programme at the Centre for Liberal Strategies. According to him, it cannot be expected that the process of accountability and responsibility, and the system's lack of readiness to counter abuses of power, will suddenly change. One possible approach is to amend the Constitution, although, in Grozev's words, there is currently no significant effort in that direction. Another problem in the system, he said, is the strong resistance of professional communities within it that seek to self-govern.

"There are 2,200 judges and about 1,400 prosecutors in the judicial system who actually carry out 99% of the work we are talking about," said Georgi Gaidarov, a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Advocates. According to him, the problem in the judiciary is "95% negligence and 5% corruption." Gaidarov said the Judicial System Act needs to be amended, as previous revisions had "cemented certain individuals in the judiciary."