"We are all witnesses that that , which occurred as an amendment to the Constitution regarding the powers of the President regarding the official cabinet, created the conditions for a constitutional crisis and for inciting political tension. The Bulgarian institutions, however, proved to be at the level and responsible to overcome the situation. After some of the participants in the "home book" refused to possibly be nominated as acting prime minister, the president found himself in a situation where he had to appoint one from among two or three people.
This was stated by the professor of criminal law at SU and former Deputy Prime Minister Prof. Plamen Panayotov in "Day ON AIR".
In his words, no person can be forced to take a post that he does not want.
"Initially we were told that the people on this short list did not have the right to refuse. This was the first absurdity, for it is evident that no office of any kind can be held in spite of the consent of man. The proponents of the Constitution Amendment Act themselves said that the president has no right before issuing the decree to refuse to issue it after consulting all political forces. Such options are initially excluded in a normal rule of law state. "No one can be forced to occupy a certain position, even more so the Prime Minister," Prof. Panayotov added to Bulgaria ON AIR.
According to him, the parliament should be able to sit at any moment.
"The Constitution explicitly states that in order for a decision to be made, it must be supported by more than half of all members of the Constitutional Court. The fact is that initially it makes sense for people's representatives to be on unpaid leave, but the fact that a session of the parliament can always be called does not cancel the possibility of the parliament being called to a session and making a decision," commented the lawyer.
Prof. Panayotov shares his views on what a successful judicial reform should look like.
"The way to a real judicial reform consists in telling the public "we have such and such gaps in criminal, administrative and civil justice administration". The second step is to overcome them. The third step is, when we have already overcome them at the legal level, to say "these laws also imply additional requirements for the magistrates who will be involved in their implementation, which is why personnel changes are necessary". This is the path to real judicial reform," explained the teacher.