/ world today news/ Through the changes in the Constitution, the only ambition of the ruling majority is to consolidate its power. The amendments allow for political interference in the prosecution, they guarantee the immunity of those in power, of those who were suspected of corruption at the highest levels of power in the past decade. This was commented by MEP Elena Yoncheva during a discussion about Bulgaria in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) in the European Parliament.
The subject of discussion were the conclusions of the report of the Monitoring Group mission, which visited Sofia in October 2023. It is an influential subcommittee of LIBE, in which Elena Yoncheva is the only representative from Bulgaria. Since the summer of 2020, on her initiative, the group has been monitoring the situation in Bulgaria, inviting prime ministers and chief prosecutors to a hearing, demanding information on the development of landmark cases such as “Barcelonagate”. MEPs were on a mission to Bulgaria twice – in September 2021 and in October 2023.
In Monday evening’s discussion, Elena Yoncheva said that the latest report is a good starting point to assess the state of the rule of law and democracy in Bulgaria. She shared that already on the spot in Sofia, the members of the group, representatives of different political families, had long and difficult discussions about the assessment of the actions of the ruling coalition.
Many of the answers to the questions are already clear and the evidence is there. The results we see confirm the signals and recommendations we received then from non-governmental organizations, civil society, professional organizations of magistrates and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, commented Elena Yoncheva. And enumerate – significant cases of people in the upper echelons of power, some of which we discussed in the Monitoring Group, ended without results. There will be no fair judgments. The Supreme Judicial Council has been working without a mandate for a year and a half. The Prosecutor General has been acting for more than eight months. The new Prosecutor’s Council, which the changes to the Constitution created, will be subject to political interference. And just a few days ago, there was a direct political appointment in the Constitutional Court – the former chairperson of the GERB parliamentary group Desislava Atanasova. She will now have the last word on disputing part of the new texts in the Constitution, which she herself voted for as a representative, Elena Yoncheva pointed out. This is a reform that tightens the ruling coalition’s noose around the judiciary, she was emphatic. That is why the political family of socialists and democrats in the European Parliament does not accept the changes in the Constitution.
Very careful monitoring of the processes is necessary. There are developments even after the mission in Bulgaria, as indicated by Elena Yoncheva, said MEP from the “Greens” Tineke Strick. She insisted that, in addition to the fight against corruption, the MEPs should also focus on the freedom of the media. There is still a problem with ownership concentration and transparency, Strick said. According to her, for the fight against corruption, a stable system must be built to prevent risks in the future.
The Chairperson of the Monitoring Group Sophie in’t Veld (“Renew Europe”) was more cautious this time. I am aware of Elena’s concerns, we should not dismiss them, but let’s see how the new system will be implemented. Any system can benefit the government, she said. Sophie in’t Veld noted twice the danger of excessive concentration of power in the Minister of Justice. At the same time, according to her, many of the reforms are going in the right direction – you know how it is, you can’t suspect bad intentions.
It is not about bad intentions, argues Elena Yoncheva. The intentions have already been translated into legislative changes. Despite the Venice Commission’s concerns that the High Prosecutorial Council might be under political influence, it was accepted in the Constitution, she said. Six of the ten members of the council will be elected by the majority in the National Assembly. Who will be the next chief prosecutor will be decided by the prosecutor’s council, as the Law on the Judiciary will specify how many votes. It is possible that only the representatives elected by the parliament are sufficient for this.
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