A study by the Institute for Market Economy shows that Bulgaria ranks first in GDP in the entire European Union in terms of justice spending. There is a possibility that this trend can change and this is entirely in the hands of the National Assembly. This was said by the legal expert at the Institute for Market Economy Ivan Bregov in the program "Your Day" on NOVA NEWS.
Meanwhile, our country is behind in the ranking of the rule of law index.
In terms of satisfaction with justice and the fight against corruption, Bulgaria ranks between Kosovo and Senegal, and in terms of spending in the field - we are first in the European Union. "We need to look for levers related mainly to the budget and the reformatting of the country's judicial map, so that there are no courts – "sacred cows" that exist at any cost. There should be no structures of the prosecutor's office that are subordinated solely to the will of the chief prosecutor. In some prosecutor's offices, in addition to ordinary prosecutors who are engaged in their professional activities, there are four, five, or even six deputies“, asked Bregov.
According to him, 93% of the judiciary's budget goes to payments for salaries and bonuses to judges, prosecutors and investigators. “They should be remunerated, but they have up to 4 salaries and an annual bonus, why do they also receive 5,000 leva for clothing? We have a model in which only 7% is spent on capital expenditures and other expenses of the judiciary, the rest is for personnel. Salaries increase every year and this is enshrined in the Judiciary Act“, explained Ivan Bregov.
According to him, there are a total of over 2,200 judges and 1,500 prosecutors in our country. "Should there be four deputy district prosecutors? And in the Supreme Judicial Council - an agronomist dealing with statistics and having over 100 administration people? Is it necessary for the deputies of the Prosecutor General to have official cars and personal drivers? Where economic activity is high, let these people be there, but where they are absent and resources are lacking, staff should be reduced," Bregov urged.