"It is expected that a Prosecutor General will be elected by spring", Minister of Justice Nikolay Naydenov told BNT. He reminded that this depends on the election of the new composition of the Supreme Judicial Council.
"By mid-November, we should have an elected Supreme Judicial Council from both quotas - both the professional and the parliamentary. I say this with some conditionality, because the election of the professional quota is subject to appeal. And it is quite possible that there will be one", he pointed out.
In his words, if there is such an appeal, the election may be delayed a bit. “But this is something that is beyond our powers as both the legislative and the executive branch. But, if we have an elected Supreme Judicial Council in mid-November, I think that in early spring we should also have a Prosecutor General“.
“We have stated several times the principles with which we will approach the election of the Supreme Judicial Council. They were related to the integrity of people, their professional qualities and the lack of dependencies, at least to known ones. So the fact that we have proposed a full set for a prosecutorial and judicial college is not accidental. If we had done the opposite, we would now be accused of collusion, quotas and some backstage conversations“, commented Naydenov.
According to him, the election of the Supreme Judicial Council should be a competition of ideas and opportunities.
“It is a matter of political responsibility to propose a full composition of a body whose mandate has long expired. It is a question of support and presentation of these candidates, which of them will pass the extremely strict criteria for integrity and professionalism, which are yet to be developed within the framework of their concepts and their hearings“, he commented.
“I assume that some will perform better, others not so much. The Minister of Justice has done so far with regard to the candidates. It is the job of the parliament to select the best among them“, commented Naydenov
According to him, loyalty is a principle that cannot be applied in this case, because they are betting on independence. “A magistrate is by presumption loyal only to the law and his inner conviction. But when such criteria are set in a selection process to assess the integrity and internal beliefs of the magistrate or the person who will enter a collective body, such as the SJC, this creates greater guarantees for the selection of precisely those people who are resistant to external influences and resistant to any kind of attempt to interfere in their work“.
He shared that a mechanism will be created for the early release of SJC members. “We guarantee that if there are people for whom data about such schemes emerge, we will not support them. We also guarantee that we will create a mechanism for these people to be released if they succumb to any influence“.
Naydenov explained that the mechanism is constitutional. “This is precisely part of our program for reforms in the judicial system, which also includes constitutional changes. Creating a mechanism for persons who have once been elected to the SJC to be dismissed on a slightly wider range of grounds, without affecting their independence“.
“Currently, such mechanisms are lacking. The separation of powers does not only imply the independence of the powers from each other and mutual control. In the independence of the judicial system, the mechanisms for mutual control are somewhat less than they should be. We have established this and it is precisely such mechanisms that are part of this system“, he added.
Although constitutional judges are not judges in the direct sense of the word, they do not administer justice. We have established a certain gap in the Constitution regarding the grounds for their dismissal. If an ordinary judge violates and harms the independence of the judiciary, he is subject to disciplinary punishment on several lines of dismissal. There is no analogous provision for constitutional judges. "That is, the prestige of the judiciary and the prestige of the Constitutional Court as one of the highest bodies in the state should be protected," commented Naydenov.