"The EU Court does not decide the case on the merits. It does not examine and does not rule on whether or not the Governing Council of the BNB correctly removed Mr. Gyurov. It interprets the provision of Article 14.2 of the Statute of the European Central Bank in view of the specific situation that has arisen in Bulgaria - and in particular whether the hypotheses faced by the Supreme Administrative Court fall within the scope of a substantial violation that would lead to incompatibility". This was stated by the lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski'' Assoc. Prof. Ivan Stoynev in the program “Offensive with Lyubo Ognyanov“ on NOVA NEWS. According to him, after the decision of the Court of Justice of the EU, the Supreme Administrative Court is also due to rule on the case with Andrey Gyurov.
We recall that a few days ago, the opinion of the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union was published on the case related to the removal of Gyurov as Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank. The document stated that the Law on the Bulgarian National Bank does not contradict EU law with regard to the requirements for members of national banks, as well as in relation to the grounds for their dismissal.
"The Advocate General is part of the Court of Justice of the European Union. His task is not to assist one of the parties. He must provide the court with an additional legal opinion, regardless of the parties to the dispute, with a view to issuing the final decision. The functions of his conclusions are solely advisory. That is, this is a judicial act that does not have the force of a final judgment and has no judicial value from the point of view of resolving a legal dispute or giving a binding interpretation", the expert explained what the status of the so-called Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union is.
Associate Professor Stoynev emphasized that whether the court will follow the conclusions of the Advocate General is something that cannot be predicted. "There is no dependence on whether the court will follow them or not", he explained. He added that there is no statutory deadline for the magistrates to issue the final decision: "The standard decision-making process after the conclusion of the Advocate General is between three and six months".
When asked if Andrey Gyurov withdraws the appeal challenging his removal as Deputy Governor of the BNB, will this terminate the proceedings before the Supreme Administrative Court, the associate professor explained: "As far as I am aware of the case at the national level, based on media publications, the appeal was actually filed by the BNB against the decision of the Sofia City Administrative Court. The question here is: if the BNB withdraws its appeal, what will be the consequences of this act? As far as I understand from public information, there have already been attempts by the BNB to take such action. In such a case, the case is terminated before the national jurisdiction and the Court of Justice of the European Union will not issue a final judgment, since there is no need to provide clarification to the national court on how to resolve the case". He added that in such a case, the issue of incompatibility practically remains unresolved.
According to Stoynev, there is no case in which - even if the Supreme Administrative Court rules that there is incompatibility - acts taken by the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister personally can be challenged. "We have had similar situations under previous caretaker governments. The practice is clear - as long as the actions at the time of their execution were lawful, there are no grounds for nullity. Moreover, the question of whether the removal constitutes only a suspension of powers or a complete termination of his powers as Deputy Governor of the BNB is debatable here. This is an issue that is decided at the national level", the associate professor is categorical.
According to Stoynev, it is important to note that EU law does not automatically prohibit the participation of a deputy governor in a company, as long as there is no conflict of interest. The key question, in his words, is whether such a conflict exists and whether an opportunity was given to remove it. "One of the problems in this case is that it was acted upon automatically - the establishment of a certain fact led directly to a conclusion of incompatibility, without giving an opportunity to react", he emphasized.
And he expressed the opinion that from the point of view of Bulgarian law "the quality of deputy governor of the BNB arises with the act of the National Assembly by which the person was elected". "And it is terminated by the same body. Therefore, at the time of his appointment, Andrey Gyurov was formally a deputy governor, albeit on unpaid leave", he stated.
And he was categorical that the opinion of the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union does not give the president a legal basis to appoint a new prime minister. "This is an advisory opinion without binding force. It does not give rise to legal consequences. Political decisions can be made, but there is a risk if the court issues a different decision later. This opinion is part of the process and provides guidance, but does not bind the institutions," he stressed.