The Administrative Court in Sofia Region issued a series of four landmark rulings that freeze the procedure for selecting a leader of the Bulgarian National Television. The magistrates officially blocked the attempts of the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) to take unilateral administrative actions.
In its first ruling, the court categorically canceled as unlawful the regulator's order from July 15 regarding the preliminary execution of the decision to terminate the competition for director general. The judicial body placed a temporary veto on the administrative act until its legality is finally clarified.
The proceedings were initiated by a complaint from Emil Koshlukov – one of the candidates who participated in the disputed procedure. The magistrates found significant procedural violations in the actions of the media regulator.
Consistently in the next three rulings, the court continues to block CEM's attempts to unilaterally force administrative decisions. The second judicial intervention declares the decision to announce the procedure void, and the third ruling stops the preliminary execution of the decision to terminate it.
The fourth ruling again declares part of the CEM's decision related to preliminary execution void. All these judicial acts are based on complaints from participants in the competition – Emil Koshlukov and Irina Velichkova.
An important procedural clarification is that all four rulings are subject to appeal within seven days, which further complicates the administrative situation around the leadership of the public television.
The root cause of the judicial intervention is CEM's actions on July 15, when the regulator decided to terminate the procedure for selecting a director general, originally announced in 2022. The reason is the lack of a chosen leader after three consecutive meetings.
In its official decision, CEM refers to Article 60 of the Administrative Procedure Code, which allows preliminary execution of administrative acts when protecting state and public interests. The Council claims that the actions are necessary to ensure lawful management of the national television.
The regulator emphasizes that the procedure, opened in May 2022, should be terminated because none of the candidates managed to gather the minimum required three votes from CEM members.
Parallel to the termination, CEM also announces a new procedure for selecting a director general, again ordering preliminary execution. The reason is the exceptional importance of the process given the expiration of the current leadership's mandate.
The judicial intervention calls into question the legitimacy of administrative actions and creates additional uncertainty around the future leadership of the public media.