Deputy businessman Delyan Peevski will leave the parliamentary committee on constitutional issues. He announced this himself today, after a leadership meeting dedicated to the upcoming changes to the Constitution was held in the National Assembly. The leading figures of GERB-SDS, PP-DB and DPS met at the invitation of the right to decide what they will do with the changes in the basic law, about which they have been talking for a long time, but so far nothing concrete has been done.
Peevski stated that at today’s meeting it was decided to elect a completely new composition of the constitutional commission, which will include only experts. “Party leaders plus political figures will comment on the Constitution process from their point of view,” he explained. Until now, it was his participation in the committee, where he was elected at the insistence of his party, that was the reason why it has not held a single meeting so far. The PP-DB opposed his election for a number of reasons, mostly because the DPS politician is sanctioned under the US Magnitsky Act. However, when it came to the vote by which Peevski entered the composition of the commission, the right-wing leaders did not dare to categorically reject his candidacy, but only abstained.
“I am taking a step back in the name of Bulgaria and the Constitution, because the changes are urgent,” said Peevski. And he specified that no political force will broadcast its iconic faces in the new composition.
The politicians also agreed to create a working group to work on the details of the reform. “There is agreement on the main points for the prosecutor (the chief prosecutor – note), full agreement to dismantle his unlimited power and take away his powers; on the councils (the division of the Supreme Judicial Council) – there is agreement that there should be two councils in order to judges should be independent; increasing the powers of the inspectorates,” Peevski arranged what there was a consensus on.
He specified that the idea to completely remove the figure of the chief prosecutor will more likely be dropped because there is a constitutional decision that does not allow this. “We will limit the powers of the chief prosecutor so that there will be no more historically similar events as we had in the past,” he added, thus hinting at the war that broke out between politicians and the removed head of the state prosecution Ivan Geshev. According to Peevski, the constitutional reform is only the first step – according to him, changes in the laws affecting justice are also necessary, so that there is a faster judicial process.
The commission does not have a chairman, as the parliamentary groups could not agree on who to choose to head it. Now, with the new lineup, it has a chance to work.
HIGH DEGREE OF AGREEMENT
The co-chairman of PP-DB Hristo Ivanov stated that the result of the meeting was “the high degree of agreement on the major goals of the judicial reform”. And he added that it is not just about the changes in the Constitution. “The direction is to limit the lack of control of the chief prosecutor, to reformat the SJC, according to the Venice Commission, to discuss ideas for reformatting the institute of the service cabinet,” he pointed out.
Thus, his main emphases almost coincided with those listed by Peevski – with the exception of the issue of the caretaker government. On this issue, Ivanov also claimed that he has an agreement with GERB-SDS and DPS, launching various ideas – for example, to continue the work of the parliament and to dissolve it only when the election campaign begins. In practice, this means that the time during which the official cabinet will govern without an active National Assembly will be shortened as much as possible.
As for the differences in the visions of the various political forces, Ivanov commented that when the constitutional commission is restarted, the issues will be discussed at an expert level with representatives of the professional communities and the prosecutor’s office. He optimistically predicts that the commission can be operational within 10 days.
“HIT ME – I LOVE YOU”
“The situation between GERB and PP-DB is ‘beat me – I love you,'” commented BSP leader Cornelia Ninova. According to her, the Gerbers are “beating ‘We continue the change’ through legislation, through commissions, they joke. But when the time came for the immunity, the PP threw themselves at Boyko’s neck”. The social leader also stated that the parliamentary reform was over, and the goal was “to save Boyko Borisov from justice”.
“There is no coalition agreement, there is no management program. Today Borisov announced that this meeting (the leadership meeting yesterday – note) is shameful and fruitless, and after an hour they gathered to change the Constitution. This third-rate performance began to tire”, dismissively said Ninova. And he added that the Gerbers and the right-wingers “can quarrel publicly on all issues, but they will not allow Borisov to have a fair and transparent trial.” and voted to remove the immunity of the GERB-SDS leader.
Regarding the formation of the constitutional commission, Ninova confirmed that the BSP will offer its lawyers and specialists, but will not participate in any other preliminary talks.
WHAT HAPPENED EARLIER
The meeting in the morning was attended by Boyko Borisov, Desislava Atanasova, Raya Nazaryan and Radomir Cholakov on behalf of the Gerbers; Kiril Petkov, Hristo Ivanov, Nadezhda Yordanova, Vasil Pandov and Nikola Minchev represented the right; Mustafa Karadayi, Delyan Peevski, Stanislav Anastasov and Yordan Tsonev spoke on behalf of DPS. The presence of MP Peevski, a businessman, showed that the right-wing parties have probably come to terms with his active participation in the constitutional reform. Justice Minister Atanas Slavov also got involved.
There were no representatives of the other parliamentary political forces – “Vazrazhdane”, BSP and ITN. And their participation is necessary if a majority of 180 deputies is sought, which can quickly change the Constitution.
However, this is not the only outstanding question. The leader of the GERB-SDS parliamentary group Desislava Atanasova pointed out that the three formations have their own projects, between which there are significant differences. Therefore, they must decide whether they will be discussed separately or whether a common project will be made.
At the moment, the only project that has been published belongs to DPS, and the movement does not even have enough MPs to formally submit it to the National Assembly for consideration. GERB-SDS and PP-DB claim that they also have such, but have not announced them to the public.
2023-06-29 20:57:59
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