The Ministry of Justice is preparing an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court, challenging the refusal of the Prosecutorial College of the Supreme Judicial Council to dismiss Borislav Sarafov from the position of acting "prosecutor general".
The ministry assures that they will comply with the legal deadline, which expires next week.
Meanwhile, the acting Minister Andrey Yankulov and non-governmental organizations discussed the criteria by which future candidates for prosecutor number one should be nominated. According to the Constitution, in addition to three members of the Prosecutorial College, the Minister of Justice also has the right to propose candidates for prosecutor general.
"The ministers of justice should exercise this authority in order to provide greater opportunity for competitiveness and competition in the relevant elections. There is no requirement anywhere that the Prosecutor General must necessarily be from the system," commented Andrey Yankulov, Acting Minister of Justice.
However, the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria expressed reservations about this statement and proposed an alternative approach.
"At the general meetings of the prosecutor's offices, their candidates should be voted on and nominated. Something, by the way, that is available as a power and procedure for the nomination of judges," said Georgi Kodzhanikolov, Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria, Nova TV reports.
So far, the ministers of justice have not used their right to nominate on the grounds that, as political figures, they would not want to tie the candidate to a specific party.
"This is undoubtedly a risk. But through clear criteria and a transparent process, the nominations will not be political in the sense of conveying narrow party interests," Yankulov commented.
"The line between politicizing the election and interfering in the powers of the judiciary by nominating a candidate by the minister is very thin", adds Kodzhanikolov.
The non-governmental sector welcomes the idea of clear criteria for the election, but insists that they be adopted after public discussion and parliamentary debate.
"The criteria must be raised to a high level. "If someone is dissatisfied with the final result or considers them unconstitutional, they should have the opportunity to appeal to the Constitutional Court," states Emil Georgiev, Initiative "Justice for Everyone."
The final choice of who the new Prosecutor General will be remains within the powers of the Supreme Judicial Council.