The career model in the judicial system must be improved. The reason - competitions delayed for years affect both the professional development of magistrates and their independence. Such an opinion was expressed in the program “Offensive with Lyubo Ognyanov“ Prof. Veselin Vuchkov, nominated by “We continue the change“ for a member of the prosecutor's college of the Supreme Judicial Council and former Minister of Internal Affairs.
“Since a magistrate does not know how to foresee his career in a fair way until he reaches the age of 65, this also affects his independence“, commented Vuchkov.
According to him, the delay in competitions also leads to an increase in the number and duration of business trips. This, in turn, creates additional opportunities for influencing magistrates.
Vuchkov emphasized that the problems in the prosecutor's office and the judicial system cannot be solved quickly, even by the Supreme Judicial Council. According to him, this is a 25-member body and the change in the system requires time and consistent actions.
„If someone promises that this will happen in a month or two, it is simply far from the truth“, he said.
Vuchkov said that he accepts the nomination responsibly and has the ambition to work for changes in the judicial system.
„Obviously I have the ambition to change something on this extremely important topic - how the Bulgarian prosecutor's office works, how the judicial system in general works, what shortcomings have been noticed“, he said.
According to him, predictable and fair career development should be among the important things to work on. He also drew a parallel with the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he also sees a need to improve the career model.
According to Vuchkov, the other key issue before the new composition of the SJC will be the election of a new Prosecutor General and a new Chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court. In his words, the way in which these procedures will be carried out may have an impact on the work of the entire judicial system.
“Especially in the prosecution and investigation, which are still hierarchical and the hierarchy cannot be completely destroyed there, it is very important who is at the top“, said Vuchkov.
He believes that the selection of leaders should be made more transparent and objective, with previously set criteria and, if possible, in conditions of competition.
The professor also commented on the “Petrokhan“ case. According to him, there are a number of oddities surrounding the way the organization obtained weapons permits, as well as its name and actions on the ground.
“However, I want to emphasize strongly that I am inclined to believe the official version that was announced, especially on that day at the press conference“, he said.