Bulgaria: The Constitutional Reform began on the Slow Track

@Julia Lazarova, Dnevnik

Without any surprises, the Constitutional reform started on the so-called "slow track". This means that the fundamental law will be amended at the end of the year at the earliest.

The draft law was adopted with applause. After an 8-hour debate, the draft law to amend and add to the Constitution, submitted by DPS, "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" and GERB-SDS, gathered 161 votes "for". They were not enough for the fast passage of the texts, but they were enough for the so-called "slow track" where the reform can be considered again with the required smaller majority of 160 votes, but after a minimum of two months. Quite expectedly, the groups of "Vazrazhdane", "There is Such a People" and BSP voted "against" - a total of 57 votes.

At the end of spring, when the "assembly" (the so-called shaky coalition between GERB and WCC-DB) behind the rotating cabinet "Denkov-Gabriel" was being made, "Democratic Bulgaria" set one condition to become a partner of GERB-SDS and DPS - constitutional reform with a focus on the judicial system. Thus, Hristo Ivanov, former Minister of Justice, who resigned in 2015 after GERB and DPS criticized the judicial reform, found himself forced to talk with Peevski and Borissov about gathering the cherished "constitutional majority". By virtue of this same agreement, Assoc. Professor Atanas Slavov was appointed as Minister of Justice at the last moment. Both Hristo Ivanov and Atanas Slavov have repeatedly publicly announced that if the constitutional reform fails again, they will resign and bear the political responsibility. This, in turn, would break the "assembly" with DPS and GERB, and this will also bring down the government.

At the moment, the requests of GERB and DPS are that the amendments between the texts will be only cosmetic and there will be no substantial changes, because the consensus in the coalition was difficult to achieve. Coalition or not - there is no guarantee that the constitutional reform requested by Hristo Ivanov will pass. There is no guarantee that the scenario of 2015 will not be repeated. All this will become clear in December.

The timeline for constitutional reform was drawn up by judicial reform protagonist Delyan Peevski weeks ago. The expectations are that the draft law will be re-examined exactly after two months - on December 6, which is the shortest possible deadline. The texts will be considered for a second reading in the committee on December 13th, and in the plenary hall - on the 14th. The third reading of the amendments to the Constitution is scheduled for December 15. It is almost certain that these deadlines will be met, but surprises are also possible. During the consideration of the texts in the commission, the chairman Radomir Cholakov called on the experts to exert pressure in order to delay the adoption of the texts by 5 months, during which to work on the amendments.

The constitutional reform summarized:

There are several main proposals in the draft amendment to the Fundamental Law. Some of them will be revised:

• Separation of the High Judicial Council into a Procurator's and a Judicial Council, and the Plenum to be abolished. It is expected that between the two readings the Plenum will be restored, but with limited powers;
  - The Judicial Council will consist of 15 members - the presidents of the Supreme Court and Supreme Court, 8 members elected by the judges directly, and 5 - by the National Assembly (they must not be acting judges);
  - The Prosecutor's Council will consist of 10 members - the chief prosecutor, 6 members elected by the National Assembly, two elected by the prosecutors, and one - by the investigators. The Minister of Justice will be able to preside over the council, but will not have the right to vote;
• Curtailing the powers of the Prosecutor General. His right to supervise the legality and methodical guidance of the prosecutor's offices is no longer valid. It is envisaged that he will only be the "head of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office";
• Introduction of an individual constitutional appeal. Regularity and eligibility requirements are expected to be introduced;
• Limitation of the power of the president - with the changes, it is proposed that the National Assembly will not be dissolved when the government falls, and the parliament will not sit during an election campaign. The president will be able to choose only the prime minister, but will choose between the chairman of the National Assembly, the head of the Bulgarian National Bank and the chairman of the Supreme Court. The ministers will be appointed by the head of state, but on the proposal of the prime minister. Gen. Atanas Atanasov stated that he will propose the creation of a separate law to regulate the powers of caretaker governments. The issue of the circle of persons who can be elected as prime minister will be discussed again;
• The president will not issue a decree on the appointment of the chief prosecutor and the presidents of the Supreme Court and Supreme Court - they will be appointed and dismissed directly by the Supreme Court. They will be eligible for two terms of 5 years each (the Prosecutor General is expected to be eligible for only one term of 5 years);
• Dropping the requirement for deputies and ministers that people with dual citizenship cannot be elected;
• Change of national holiday. The proposal will be dropped;

The co-chairman of "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" Hristo Ivanov presented the draft law, and in his opinion made a subtle attack against his (non)coalition partner from DPS Delyan Peevski.

The former Minister of Justice categorically stated that there is no war against the prosecution and prosecutors and called on all experts and institutions to get involved with editorial proposals between readings. In his words, the imported texts are an "invitation to a conversation".

GERB: Let's try to do our best without breaking the frame

The head of the constitutional commission in the National Assembly, Radomir Cholakov, confirmed that changes will be made between readings. According to him, it is very important how the talks between the political parties will proceed in the next two months, because this is also important for the final result. Cholakov stated that nothing will be done at any cost or selfishly.

The BSP accused the assembly of betraying the national interest

The main criticism of the leader of the left, Kornelia Ninova, came in relation to the proposal for MPs and ministers to be elected people with dual citizenship. According to her, this creates the possibility that Bulgarian statesmen can serve dual interests.

The leader of the Socialists stated that the amendments in the texts were unconstitutional and would be declared as such. She defined the report of the parliamentary constitutional commission, which includes all opinions on the draft law, as a "preliminary conviction".

In turn, Nikola Minchev from the WCC-DB called on BSP to support the texts in the first reading and to make proposals for revisions before the second reading.

"There Is Such a People": The purpose of the constitutional reform is to strengthen the "assembly"

Such a thesis was presented by the MP from Slavi Trifonov's party, Grozdan Karadjov. He said that eight years ago he resigned as the chairman of the transport commission because of the "scrubbing"* of the judicial reform by GERB and DPS. According to him, the proposed sixth amendment to the basic law will not solve any of the problems of the judicial system.
*"Scrubbing" or "opraskvane" is a relatively new term that means to bypass transparent and legal procedures, to take away de facto power from legitimate institutions, and to put the law on someone's head by virtue of mechanisms and principles invisible to society. Citizens learned it from leaked tapes of conversations between two female judges. And a few days later, they saw how the trickery worked in the legislative process as well.

"This is a Constitution for one person, or at best - for several people," said Karadjov.

In his words, the petitioners are attacking the chief prosecutor and the president, but if representatives of the "assembly" stood in their place, they would shed "crocodile tears".

His fellow party member Toshko Yordanov defined the WCC-DB group as "fools" who were used in the deal with DPS and GERB. He predicts that the fate of this attempt at constitutional reform will be the same as the previous attempt from 2015:

"Out of 70,000 protestors against Delyan Peevski for (head of) the State agency for National Security, we are currently in a state in which Boyko Borissov, Delyan Peevski and Hristo Ivanov are the first to sign the constitutional changes. Your self-humiliation is total and bottomless".

Radostin Vassilev described the constitutional draft as absolute chaos and disgrace

Radostin Vasilev, a non-member of the parliamentary group, who broke away from "There Is Such a People" last year, and in 2023 one from WCC-DB, said that the draft law is "absolute disgrace and absolute chaos". He pointed out that the opinions on the texts were destructive and half of the texts were within the competence of the Grand National Assembly, and the other half were unconstitutional.

For "Vazrazhdane", the draft law is "phony"

Petar Petrov from Kostadin Kostadinov's party said that the project to change the basic law is "phony". In his words, the purpose of the draft law is "to control and parcel out the leadership positions in the judicial system". His fellow party member Tsoncho Ganev said that none of the WCC and DB voters gave their vote for these parties to fulfill Peevski's orders. Tsveta Rangelova called on WCC-DB, GERB and DPS to withdraw the constitutional reform.

DPS will request edits between readings

According to the deputy chairman of the DPS parliamentary group, Hamid Hamid, there are no grounds to believe that the proposals for the reform of the Constitution are unconstitutional. He added that during the work on the texts, the three groups were careful not to encroach on the powers of the Great National Assembly. The MP requested that attention be paid to the criticisms of the texts and there would be edits between the readings.

"It depends on us whether we make a beautiful and suitable project or not," he concluded.

The Minister of Justice: The division of the Supreme Judicial Council is not unconstitutional

Justice Minister Atanas Slavov said that the debate on the Constitution poses the question of what kind of country we want to live in - a country with European rule of law or a country of a hybrid form - between democracy and authoritarianism. According to him, the dispute is currently about the means to achieve a fair court, an independent prosecutor's office and greater justice for citizens.

Slavov stated that the division of the SJC does not contradict the Constitution, and that each of the amendments, for which there are concerns of unconstitutionality, must take into account the fact that the Constitutional Court ruled on the current Constitution, which is about to be amended. He added that at the moment the current National Assembly is taking on the role of a founding one.

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