"Progressive Bulgaria" introduced changes to the Judiciary Act.
"It is very important that the new Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) be elected as soon as possible. I hope that the introduced changes are part of consultations that aim precisely at this - that the necessary qualified majority of 160 votes is achieved as soon as possible, so that we can witness what a large part of Bulgarian citizens expect. If there are no consultations that have already been held with political forces that have declared for this change, then this poses great risks", said the criminal law lecturer at Sofia University, Prof. Plamen Panayotov, in the studio of "Denyat ON AIR".
"First, the amendments to the law, as well as the adoption of new rules envisaged in the project, may prove to be a stumbling block later, as it may turn out that they are not to the taste of the opposition. It depends on it whether a new quota for the Supreme Judicial Council will be chosen. "When changes are made to the law, and then new rules - this must be consulted with those political forces that will be included in the qualified majority", added Prof. Panayotov on Bulgaria ON AIR.
He believes that the opposition may have its own demands.
"The procedure for adopting changes to a law in itself goes through committees anyway, then through the chamber. And if this is not consulted in advance - I assume that it can turn into a political debate that will postpone in time what society expects. The ability to make personnel decisions could be limited. "We must also reach the election of a Prosecutor General and a Chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court, who meet the high criteria," the guest emphasized.
In his words, if a new SJC and a new Prosecutor General are not elected before the start of the presidential election campaign, this will cause political damage to the ruling party.
"We are not informed as a society about the rules for setting new high standards when specifying nominations for the new SJC. It is possible that these new rules will also provide for a new procedure, but we have to see. The question is whether the adoption of the changes in the law and these new rules will postpone the resolution of the essential issues," the lecturer commented.
When asked whether there should be a quota principle, he replied: "The existence of such a quota principle under the current law does not exist. But in any case, everyone who contributes to the qualified majority expects to have the opportunity to make nominations that will be supported. The question is not who will make the nominations, but what kind of people will be nominated".
Prof. Plamen Panayotov added that "unfortunately, there is no trust in the judiciary".
"Trust in this area implies exact and equal observance of the laws towards everyone. But the suspicion in some cases is that this is not exactly the case. Certain cases are also making headlines in which a full and objective investigation is not carried out, people are left with the impression that there is an umbrella over those who are suspected", he concluded.