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Bulgaria received serious criticism at the closed-door meeting of the European Parliament’s Rule of Law Monitoring Group, which analyzed the situation in Bulgaria.
This was announced to BNR by the “Bivol” journalist Dimitar Stoyanov, who participated in the meeting.
In my opinion, the Bulgarian authorities have come under really devastating criticism for the way they are carrying out judicial reform in our country; by the personality and performance of the Attorney General; due to the lack of an independent body to investigate possible crimes or violations. by the Attorney General, given the uncertainty surrounding the future change to the Constitution, which many panelists called, to put it mildly, “alarming,” he said.
On the Bulgarian side, the Deputy Prime Minister of Judicial Reform and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ekaterina Zaharieva, the Vice President of the Attorney General Krassimira Filipova and the Deputy Minister of Justice, Desislava Ahladova participated. They replace Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Attorney General Ivan Geshev, who were invited to the hearing.
Representatives of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and other European institutions, as well as representatives of Bulgarian civil society also participated in the meeting.
It was observed that the situation with the print media was deteriorating and that they were in a monopoly situation since they were governed by an oligarch, like the televisions.
“Our group will continue with the issue of corruption in Bulgaria and we will send additional questions to many of the participants (in today’s meeting – br), because we did not have time to go into details.” This was announced by Dutch MEP Sophie int ‘Veld to EURACTIV after the meeting.
It guarantees that the subject will not be forgotten.
“There will be other reasons to return to the subject. Next month, the European Commission will present its first annual report on the rule of law in all member states. There will be other reasons to return to the subject,” he told EURACTIV.
“The European Parliament is a cumbersome institution. It is unrealistic to expect a quick reaction,” Democratic MEP Radan Kanev commented on his Facebook profile. He also participated in the gathering of signatures for the hearing. “But our efforts by the European institutions to respond to the crisis of the rule of law in Bulgaria are already paying off. The first step was today’s closed-door hearing of representatives of the Cabinet and the Prosecutor’s Office. The next, the next debate in the Committee on Civil Rights and Justice (LIBE), the important one: the open parliamentary debate with the European Commission, for which I submitted a request backed by 55 MEPs.
The Bulgarian justice crisis is already a matter for the entire European Union. And this is good news for all Bulgarians, because as European citizens, we have the right and hope that all EU institutions are defenders and guarantors of our rights, ”wrote Kanev.
The prosecution: Geshev proposed the discussion in the EP
The press center of the Prosecutor’s Office issued a separate statement on the same event. He states that the debate was organized by the European Parliament at the suggestion of Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev:
Today, August 28, 2020, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Krassimira Filipova participated via video conference in a closed session of the Monitoring Group on Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights (DRFMG) in Parliament European in Brussels.
The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Prime Minister for Justice Reform and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ekaterina Zaharieva, the Deputy Minister of Justice Desislava Ahladova, Ana Dzhumalieva, President of the Commission for Protection against Discrimination, representatives of non-governmental organizations in Bulgaria and others. .
The debate was organized by the European Parliament on the proposal of the Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev to discuss the current challenges before the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria in the context of increased political and media pressure.
Highlights during the meeting were the efforts and achievements in cases of great public and media interest in Bulgaria, the structure of the prosecution and the powers of the Attorney General.
“According to the Constitution, the prosecutor’s office is unified, but not centralized. The only subordination that corresponds to prosecutors is obedience to the Law. They do not have a hierarchical relationship with either the Attorney General or their administrative heads. They are free to take decisions according to their internal conviction, regardless of the person to whom they refer, and these decisions cannot be controlled by the chief prosecutor, “Deputy Chief Prosecutor Krassimira Filipova said during the discussion.
Representatives of the European Commission, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and other European institutions also participated in the talks. “
