The status quo in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) dampened plans on Thursday by "Progressive Bulgaria" for the rapid election of a new Prosecutor General to kickstart the promised judicial reform and the fight against the oligarchy. It turns out that a new head of the state prosecution can be elected no earlier than February or March next year, and until then, the prosecution will continue to be led by the current leadership.
This became clear after a three-hour meeting between Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov and representatives of the professional community of judges, prosecutors, and investigators. During the conversation, representatives of the SJC explained that the realistic deadline for completing the elections for the magistrate quotas in the judicial council is the end of October.
Thus, the new SJC could begin functioning no earlier than the first half of November. The current composition of the council, whose activities are expected to be limited by law so as not to cause harm to the judicial system, will continue to exist at least until November, after which the new officials must take its place.
From that moment until the election of a new Prosecutor General, at least three more months must pass, which means that the procedure could be completed no earlier than the end of February 2027 or the beginning of March.
Currently, the prosecution is headed by Acting Prosecutor General Vanya Stefanova – former head of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) during the BSP and DPS government ("Oresharski" cabinet) and former deputy to Borislav Sarafov. Sarafov himself is the director of the National Investigation Service and Deputy Prosecutor General for investigation.
The ruling party "Progressive Bulgaria," with the support of a large majority of the opposition, has already passed a bill at first reading that introduces a moratorium on almost all activities of the sitting SJC. It is expected that within one to two weeks, the council will be stripped of the authority to appoint, dismiss, and transfer magistrates.
The only significant powers remaining with this SJC are to organize and conduct elections for members of the next council from the professional quotas. The catch is that Parliament has no mechanism to force the current officials to accelerate the procedures.
"Progressive Bulgaria" has already stated that it will insist on the fastest possible filling of the parliamentary quota in the SJC, with the party's expectations being for this to happen within about three months. However, the new judicial council will not be able to start work until the representatives of the court, the prosecution, and the investigation service are also elected.
Until the new SJC is constituted, there is no way to elect a new Prosecutor General or a new President of the Supreme Administrative Court, and the judicial council will be practically deprived of the ability to manage the system.
Against this backdrop, Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov has assured the magistrates that he will support their proposals for reform in Parliament. "I will support before Parliament the proposals of the professional community, for which there is broad consensus, as proposals of the Ministry of Justice," stated Naydenov during the meeting, as cited by the ministry's press office.
The President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Galina Zaharova, has insisted on clear rules to outline the limitation of the powers of the SJC with an expired mandate, as an excessively broad scope of restrictions would be socially unacceptable. She pointed out that there might be a need for a freeze on the appointments of managers in the judicial system, but not on entire competitive procedures for appointing magistrates.
"Let us guard against extremes provoked by one or another real situation," Zaharova urged.
Acting Prosecutor General Vanya Stefanova insisted that appointments of junior judges, prosecutors, and investigators be excluded from the scope of the restrictions, as they do not tolerate delay and are a painful problem for the system. The same position is shared by members of the SJC, as well as the Chamber of Investigators.