site.btaJustice Minister Georgiev Presents Judiciary Reforms at OECD Meeting in Madrid

Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev said on Thursday that a 50% increase in funding for free legal aid for the most vulnerable citizens is one of the key reforms that Bulgaria has implemented this year to improve access to justice. Georgiev was speaking at the OECD Global Roundtable on Equal Access to Justice, underway in Madrid, his ministry's press centre said. The meeting aims to foster a dialogue between justice leaders, ministers, and representatives of the judicial systems of over 40 countries.

During talks with Mary Beth Goodman, Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), Georgiev presented the reforms carried out by Bulgaria in the process of joining the OECD, emphasizing the anti-corruption measures adopted in the Penal Code which align with the OECD's accession recommendations, as well as progress in anti-money laundering legislation and joint work with the OECD on the new lobbying law. The minister also met with Ana Gallego Torres, Director-General of the European Commission's DG Justice and Consumers, to express his gratitude for the recognition of Bulgaria's progress in the latest report on the rule of law, and to inform her of the latest reforms made by the cabinet.

In his speech at the roundtable, Minister Georgiev emphasized that the Bulgarian government is working effectively to improve access to justice and has increased funding for free legal aid by 50% over the past two months. Over 60,000 cases are handled by lawyers working with the National Legal Aid Bureau each year. Regional centres for free legal aid are being set up in cooperation with bar associations in regional cities. "We have placed a special focus on victims of domestic violence, who, in addition to legal aid, receive psychological support and free accommodation in crisis centres as part of the state's support in this area", Georgiev added.

Another focus of the Bulgarian minister's speech was the digitization of justice as a means of making it more accessible and effective. He announced that, as of July 1, the digitization of summary proceedings had become a reality. "94% of applications are now submitted online, thanks to the large-scale reform and development of an electronic system in Bulgarian courts, which we completed in the summer", said Georgiev. Nearly 190,000 new enforcement cases were filed in 2024 which represented over 50% of all cases in district courts. The centralized distribution of these cases aims to equalize the average workload of district courts. Georgiev explained that, thanks to the changes, citizens can now submit applications at any time of day, including weekends and public holidays, without having to comply with court opening hours.

Statistical data from July 2025 onwards show that the new automated method of distributing summary proceedings contributes to their even distribution across all district courts. Minister Georgiev explained that previously, some courts were seven times more overloaded than others and the aim of the reform is to gradually minimize this difference. "Over the past year, we have achieved the creation of a fully digitized process. It overcomes the imbalance in court workloads and eases the burden on judges in larger cities. It also makes judicial proceedings more efficient, reduces costs, eliminates the risk of corruption and effectively redraws the judicial map by distributing workloads more evenly. This speeds up proceedings in all other cases," the Minister of Justice pointed out.