site.btaEuropean Commission Makes Several Recommendations to Bulgaria on Rule of Law

The European Commission (EC) Tuesday published its 2025 Rule of Law Report, including a country chapter on the rule of law in Bulgaria. The country chapter looks at the actions taken by Bulgaria following last year's report and makes new recommendations to the country. 

Regarding last year's recommendations, the 2025 report reads that Bulgaria has made no further progress on:  taking  steps to adapt the relevant legislative  framework to avoid long-term secondment of judges to fill in vacant positions; taking  forward  the  plans  to  adopt  a  mechanism  for introducing  safeguards  in the appointment procedure of the Parliament-elected members of the Supreme Prosecutorial Council, ensuring their independence and taking into account European standards, particularly in view of the Council’s role in the appointment and dismissal of the Prosecutor General; ensuring an improved effectiveness of investigations and a robust track  record  of  prosecution and final  judgments  in  high-level  corruption cases and some further progress on the institutional reforms of the Counter-Corruption Commission. 

The EC finds that Bulgaria has made limited  progress  on  improving  the  integrity  of top executive  functions, taking into account  European standards, in particular  by  ensuring  that  clear  integrity  standards for the Government as well as an appropriate sanctioning mechanism are in place.

According to the report, the country has made some further progress on advancing with the work aimed at improving transparency in the allocation of state advertising,  in  particular with regard to state advertising contracted through intermediaries, such as media agencies. 

On this basis, the European Commission advises Bulgaria to: take steps to adapt the relevant legislative framework to avoid long-term secondment of judges  to fill in vacant positions; advance with the draft legislative amendments aiming at improving the functioning of the Inspectorate to the Supreme Judicial Council and avoiding the risk of political influence, in particular by involving judicial bodies in the selection of its members; re-initiate the  process  to  reform  the  Supreme  Judicial  Council, in particular its composition, to ensure its independence and effectiveness; ensure a robust track record of investigations,  prosecutions  and final  judgments  in high-level corruption cases and take further steps to ensure the effective performance of the Counter-Corruption Commission; improve  the  integrity  of  top  executive  functions; complete  the  work  aimed  at  improving transparency  in  the  allocation of state advertising, in particular with regard to state advertising contracted through intermediaries, such as media agencies; and strengthen  the  quality  of the legislative process by ensuring the use of public consultations and impact assessments for legislative initiatives by Parliament.