site.btaConstitutional Court Says It Lacks Competence in Audit Office President Case

The Constitutional Court (CC) has ruled that it has no competence to determine incompatibility of the Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO) President Dimitar Glavchev, and discontinued proceedings in this part of the case brought by MPs, the Court said on its website on Tuesday.

The CC noted that incompatibility can be established only in relation to MPs and constitutional judges, while responsibility for determining incompatibility of the BNAO President lies with the Anti-Corruption Commission.

At the same time, the Court admitted for consideration two separate requests by 58 MPs from the current 51st National Assembly: one challenging the constitutionality of Parliament’s May 16 decision to elect Silvia Kadreva as BNAO Vice President, and another contesting the May 9 election of Borislav Bozhinov as head of the Commission for Personal Data Protection (CPDP). Parliament, the Council of Ministers, and the respective office-holders were constituted as interested parties in the proceedings.

On July 17, MPs from Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), Democracy, Rights and Freedoms, and MECh submitted petitions challenging the appointments of Bozhinov, Kadreva, and Glavchev, arguing that Glavchev’s previous role as caretaker Prime Minister and Foreign Minister violated the three-year cooling-off period under the Bulgarian National Audit Office Act. All were appointed for a seven-year term.