The leadership of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Bulgaria got acquainted with the findings for Bulgaria indicated in the European Commission’s Third Annual Rule of Law Report for all member states of European Union (EU).
The leadership of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria agrees with the EC's conclusions regarding the ongoing judicial reform challenges in the country. The Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office has repeatedly taken an active role in the development of the necessary legislative framework, which will enhance trust among citizens and businesses and improve the efficiency of judicial authorities.
However, it should be noted that in the last year representatives of the other authorities – the executive and legislative powers have no constructive approach, which inevitably affects the implementation of the recommendations from the previous rule of law reports. However, once again we avail of the opportunity to confirm the Prosecutor's Office support for implementation of necessary amendments to the legislation, as long as they are consistent with the fundamental values of the European Union, the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria and the constant case-law of the Constitutional Court.
It should be noted that within the past two years, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria has twice submitted to the legislative authority specific expert proposals for amending the criminal legislation. On June 6, 2022, the Prosecutor's Office submitted to the attention of the 47th National Assembly specific proposals for amending the criminal legislation to improve the countermeasures against a number of crimes, including hate crimes, as well as those against persons driving motor vehicles under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
The Prosecutor's Office welcomed the Commission's commitment to monitor the consequences of the amendments to the Judicial System Act adopted in April 2022, by which the specialized judicial bodies were closed and that will start later this month.
We remind that the leadership of the Prosecution and representatives of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office and Appellate Specialized Prosecutor's Office have repeatedly shared their professional concerns regarding the possible negative consequences of the continuation of corruption cases. It should be borne in mind that the responsibility for the challenges that are expected to occur after the entry into force of the amendments and additions to the Judicial System Act on July 28, 2022 will be with their authors. In the context of the manner in which the intended amendments to the judicial law were prepared and subsequently adopted, the PORB fully shares the finding indicated in the European Commission report, according to which continue to lack a special regulatory framework in the field of lobbying.
The 2022 EC's Rule of Law Report for Bulgaria fully confirms the opinion expressed on December 20, 2021 by the leadership of PORB that the inclusion of issues and topics with an internal political nature, relating to the Judiciary in the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Bulgaria, was carried out not at the request of representatives of the Commission, but at the express insistence of representatives of the executive power of the Republic of Bulgaria.
This finding once again shows that the achievement of progress regarding the rule of law in the Republic of Bulgaria would not be possible without the general interaction between the individual authorities and institutions according to their competence determined by the Constitution and law.
The leadership of the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office expresses its gratitude to the prosecutors, investigators and judicial officials for their professional efforts to improve the state of the rule of law in our country.