The National Assembly passed on second reading the Law on Amendment and Supplement of the Constitution of Republic of Bulgaria. The bill was moved by Tsetska Tsacheva, Chairperson of the National Assembly and a group of MPs.

The amended texts of the Constitution envisage the partition of the Supreme Judicial Council in two colleges – the first composed by judges and the other by prosecutors and investigators. The appointments, career promotions, transfers and so on of judges will be decided by the college of judges and by the college of prosecutors and investigators respectively with regard to prosecutors and investigators.

According to the Constitution the Supreme Judicial Council consists of 25 members. The Chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court, the Chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court and the Prosecutor General are members of the SJC ex lege. The remaining 22 members are elected as follows: 11 are elected by the National Assembly and 11 are elected by different judicial bodies. The new rule adopted by lawmakers today is that members elected by the National Assembly should have the support of two-thirds of the deputies.

The parliament voted the ratio of the professional and political quotas in the two colleges of the SJC. The college of judges will consist of 14 judges including the chairmen of the SCC and the SAC, six members elected directly by judges and six by the National Assembly. The college of prosecutors will consist of 11 members including the Prosecutor General, 4 prosecutors elected directly by prosecutors and one investigator directly elected by investigators and 5 members elected by the National Assembly.

The text of the Constitution foresees the SJC’s plenum to be presided by the Minister of Justice, who lacks the right to vote. The college of judges will be presided by the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Cassation; the college of prosecutors and investigators by the Prosecutor General.