Does Bulgaria have a legitimate prosecutor general? This issue has become another battlefield that has divided not only political parties, but also the judiciary itself. While some institutions claim that the mandate of the acting prosecutor has expired, others support him, creating a sense of chaos and erosion of statehood. In the studio of “In Focus“ on Nova TV, journalist and director of the “Anti-Corruption Fund“ Boyko Stankushev and social anthropologist Assoc. Prof. Haralan Alexandrov commented on whether the separation of powers is no longer a chimera and what comes next.
“It depends on who decides. One institution decides that there is, another decides that there is not“. This is how Assoc. Prof. Haralan Alexandrov described the paradoxical situation surrounding the post of Prosecutor General. According to him, the judicial system has been turned into a “battlefield of political battalions“ for years, which has led to the erosion of institutions and growing chaos. “It seems that the system in which we find it at the moment does not have the resources to get out of this crisis. There must be a political solution“, he commented.
Journalist Boyko Stankushev was more categorical: “If we read literally the text that regulates the status of the Prosecutor General after his mandate has expired, it says something simple - this period is six months“. He pointed out the sharp division in the judicial system itself, where the Supreme Court of Cassation says one thing, and the prosecutor's college - another. “Currently, no Bulgarian citizen should rely on the judicial system working. The problem is with the parliament, because even if the court works, if there is no one to bring you to court, that is, the prosecutor, the machine is broken“, Stankushev said.
According to Assoc. Prof. Aleksandrov the political elite is failing to reach an agreement on key priorities such as justice, which creates prerequisites for the rise of new political forces. “Most likely, a powerful anti-European, nationalist wave is looking for its leadership. By virtue of the fact that all the others are fragmented, President Rumen Radev has every chance to suck the electorate of these parties and become the leader of this movement“, he predicted.