The National Assembly finally adopted large-scale amendments to the Judiciary Act (JCA) on second reading.
With the new texts, the deputies imposed an explicit ban on the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with an expired mandate to elect new administrative heads and magistrates in the system. A restriction was also imposed that no person should perform the functions of an interim chief for more than six months. Additionally, the doors to the Council were closed to those who held the positions of the “big three” after the end of their term, and the Prosecutor General will now be able to have up to three deputies.
A clear majority was formed during the vote between GERB-SDP, PP-DB and BSP, who supported the texts with the argument that it puts an end to uncontrolled temporary staffing. The opposition in the person of “Vazrazhdane“ and ITN voted “against“ or “abstained“, criticizing the reduction of the majority required to elect heads of supreme courts from 17 to 13 votes, defining it as political control of the system.
With regard to state finances, the entirely new macro-framework Draft State Budget for 2026 is about to enter the plenary hall. The cabinet insists on a fiscal framework with a deficit of exactly 3.0% of GDP in order to comply with the Maastricht criteria for the eurozone, with economic growth of 2.8%. The texts are yet to be discussed at first reading in the committees and in the hall next week amid criticism from the Fiscal Council for inflated spending.
The real political clash in the National Assembly, however, erupted over the transitional and final provisions of the new budget. They include a proposal by the Council of Ministers to close the Commission on Files and transfer its archives to the State Agency “Archives“. The draft text provoked sharp declarations from the MRF and right-wing political formations such as “Blue Bulgaria“, which declared themselves categorically against the liquidation of the structure, defining it as “an anti-democratic attempt to erase the historical memory of the communist regime“.