site.btaPM Highlights Justice Ministry's Actions to Finalize Reforms Required for Second Payment under NRRP

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov presented a report on the Cabinet's governance programme at a press conference in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. Deputy Prime Ministers Tomislav Donchev, Atanas Zafirov and Grozdan Karadjov also took part in the press conference.

"The Justice Ministry is working to finalize in a very short time all the legislative reforms required for the reimbursement of the second payment under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, with a realistic deadline of autumn this year," Zhelyazkov said. 

Bulgaria is also reporting progress on all the recommendations of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) and on the first possible date in January 2026 the country will be removed from the grey list, Zhelyazkov said. He added that the measures taken are key to assessing Bulgaria's readiness to be a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

As part of the Cabinet's efforts to stop the war on roads, the work of the courts in cases of serious traffic accidents has been accelerated. To this end, amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, the Judicial System Act and the Expert Witness Ordinance have been drafted to speed up justice, the Prime Minister said.

He hailed as a success the large-scale action launched against property fraud together with the Interior Ministry and the prosecution service. Checks are being carried out on arbitration tribunals where there are indications that arbitration is being used for criminal schemes, Zhelyazkov informed. He stressed that the changes to the International Commercial Arbitration Act increase control over arbitration tribunals. The Justice Ministry inspectorate has launched thematic inspections of private bailiffs and notaries suspected of property fraud schemes, the Prime Minister said.

Zhelyazkov also informed that all ministries are obliged to introduce full electronic document circulation for all administrative procedures by the end of June this year. A contract has been signed to ensure the operability and upgrade of the open data portal to secure and exploit the potential of high-value and secure data for the development of innovative services with high added value, Zhelyazkov said.