"The continuation of the procedure for selecting a chief prosecutor from the current composition of the SJC raises several questions. First of all, there is a constitutional question: Can the SJC with an expired mandate really choose the chief prosecutor, one of the three major heads of structures of the judicial power?".
This is what the former justice minister and leader of the list of "We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria" in the 24th district in Sofia, Nadezhda Yordanova, quoted by NOVA.
"We will insist that the SC issues a decision. On the one hand, paragraph 23 of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria is still in force. He says that the current SJC cannot choose any of the Big Three until a new composition is chosen. There is serious reason in this, because the mandate of the bodies is established in the Constitution in such a way as to further guarantee their independence and democratic legitimacy. And then, when the ratio of mandates between these bodies is broken, we already have a constitutional problem from the point of view of the rule of law," explained the PP-DB deputy candidate.
"The fact that the SC is reflecting on these paragraphs cannot be ignored. He canceled a large part of the amendments to the Constitution, not because they were not good or unconstitutional in themselves, but because they were related to others that the Constitutional Court found to be such", she pointed out and added: "The Constitutional Court itself, on the occasion of the decision to elect the last two constitutional judges, said that regardless of the fact that they were elected later, they should complete the regular term.
She confirmed that PP-DB will raise the issue of the mandate of the next chief prosecutor. According to her, it is important whether Ivan Geshev's term will be extended or whether a new 7-year term will begin. "This is one of the guarantees for the independence of the court and a fair trial," Yordanova also said.
"At the moment, Bulgaria has a case before the Court of the EU precisely on the issue of mandate. Depending on his decision and opinion, we may find ourselves in a new situation of conflict and an unclear issue from the point of view of the Constitution," she added.