The European Commission today issued several recommendations to Bulgaria in its annual report on the rule of law in the EU. The Commission presented similar recommendations for all other EU countries and took stock of the implementation of the recommendations issued last year.
The Commission expects our country to take legislative steps to avoid the long-term secondment of judges to fill vacancies, taking into account European requirements for the secondment of judges; to make progress with the draft legislative amendments aimed at improving the work of the Inspectorate of the Supreme Judicial Council and avoiding the risk of political influence, in particular by involving the judiciary in the selection of the members of the Inspectorate; to resume the process of reforming the Supreme Judicial Council, in particular its composition, in order to ensure its independence and efficiency, taking into account European standards for judicial councils; ensure consistency in investigations, prosecutions and final decisions in high-level corruption cases and take further steps to ensure the effective operation of the Anti-Corruption Commission; improve the integrity of the senior executive, taking into account European standards, in particular by ensuring that there are clear integrity requirements for the government, as well as an appropriate sanctioning mechanism; complete the work to improve transparency in the allocation of state advertising funds, especially with regard to advertising contracted through intermediaries such as media agencies; improve the quality of the legislative process by ensuring that public consultations and impact assessments are carried out for legislative initiatives by the National Assembly, the document states.
It is reported that last year's recommendations have seen limited progress in improving the integrity of the senior executive and some further progress in the work aimed at improving transparency in the allocation of state advertising.