In the debate on bTV on the topic of “Justice, fight against corruption, fair elections“ Georgi Georgiev from GERB and Atanas Slavov from the PP-DB faced each other. Both have served as Minister of Justice.
The debate began with an emphasis on the worrying sociological data, which show strong distrust of the judicial system and place corruption as a leading social problem.
According to Georgiev, trust must be earned through real results.
“The justice system must solve people's problems – criminals must be convicted, and victims – compensated“, the GERB representative noted.
He stressed that the reform is a long-term process and highlighted measures taken against property fraud and stricter laws against crimes against children.
Atanas Slavov emphasized a systemic problem: “Citizens have the feeling that the institutions work in the interests of lobbies.“
He defined the situation as a “conquered state“ and recalled that his party is insisting on legislative changes that would limit the influence of political and economic dependencies in the judiciary. According to him, the lack of convicted politicians and oligarchs is a key symptom of the problem.
The two entered into a heated argument regarding the implemented and proposed reforms.
Georgiev defined the PP-DB constitutional reform as a “catastrophe“ and referred to numerous negative opinions.
Slavov replied that the reform had received support from the Supreme Court of Cassation and a positive assessment from the European Commission.
Serious tension arose around the topic of the acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov and the role of political factors.
Slavov stated that there was political support for maintaining the status quo, while Georgiev denied such allegations and drew attention to the need to elect a new Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
Both participants agreed that there was a direct connection between the work of the Ministry of Interior, the prosecutor's office and the fairness of the elections.
Slavov gave the example of the lack of effective investigations into vote buying in the past, while Georgiev stressed the need for coordinated action between institutions.