EU Judges: Mistrust Reigns among Bulgarian Judiciary

A delegation of the European Association of Judges spent three days in Bulgaria to conduct a check of the Independence of Bulgarian courts. File photo

In the Bulgarian judicial system, there is an atmosphere of mistrusts, selfish interests and attempts to take over public attention, the three European judges, who visited Bulgaria say.

The judges, cited by the Bulgarian daily "Trud" (Labor), arrived in the country for а three-day check aimed at establishing whether there is unauthorized independence threatening pressure and interference in the work of Bulgaria's courts.

The check was requested by the Bulgarian Judges' Union over the endless attacks and accusations against the justice system, coming from Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov. The Bulgarian magistrates are seeking international support to be able to remain independent, they say.

The delegation included Austria's Gerhard Reissner, President of the European Association of Judges (EAJ), the Dutch judge Marten Stenbeck and the Estonian judge Meelis Eerik. In their criticism, the three have not named any particular institutions and courts.

From Wednesday until Friday, they met with a number of high-ranking magistrates, attorneys and journalists. They declined to say more before their official report is published and discussed in May by EAJ.

EAJ will then vote on the needed measures where there are three options: to only publish the report; extend recommendations to Bulgarian authorities, or alarm the European Commission.

In their latest mission, in a former Soviet Republic, EAJ have notified directly the EC President, Jose Manuel Barroso, about violations and there has been a positive outcome.

"Everyone I talked to in Bulgaria was sincere in their desire to lead a successful battle against organized crime and enforce the law. But there is a stark discrepancy between goals and the methods to achieve them. You must overcome egoism and the strive to self-promote," Reissner said before departing from Bulgaria.

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