Embattled Bulgarian Prime Minister Calls for Convening Grand National Assembly to Amend Constitution

After more than a month of street protests against corruption, the government and the prosecutor general, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov proposed convening a Grand National Assembly to amend the Constitution, mainly in the part concerning the judicial system. He said on Friday that as soon as the ordinary National Assembly decides that a Grand
National Assembly should be elected as per Article 160 of the Constitution, he will step down as prime minister.

"The Constitution should be composed in line with European rules," Borissov said in an address to the nation, as quoted by the government press service. "The current Constitution says that a new one may only be adopted by a Grand National Assembly. Therefore I propose convening a Grand National Assembly to make a number of significant changes to the Constitution."

One of Borissov's proposals is to reduce the seats in an ordinary National Assembly from 240 to 120. The seats in a Grand National Assembly should be reduced from 400 to 280, he said.

"We will disband the Supreme Judicial Council and will propose the establishment of a Judicial Council of Judges and a Judicial Council of Prosecutors. The two councils will tackle personnel issues separately, one dealing with judges and the other one dealing with prosecutors and investigators," he said.

In accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission (the consultative body of the Council of Europe), seven members of the future Judicial Council of Judges should be elected by the professional community of judges and six by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly. The presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court should be Council members by default, the Prime Minister said.

He proposed that the presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court and the prosecutor general serve a five-year term in office. The powers
of the minister of justice should be limited to proposing the budgets of the judicial bodies and managing the real estate of the judiciary.

The Judicial Council of Judges and the Judicial Council of Prosecutors should have separate inspectorates, each comprising a chief inspector and five inspectors.

Another idea is to establish the institute of the individual constitutional complaint.

The National Assembly should give the prosecutor general a hearing and adopt a report by him/her every six months.

Borissov said: "A Grand National Assembly is a unique opportunity, not just to restart our democracy but to do it while the people enjoy the broadest political representation. We will insist that, of all 400 members of the Grand National Assembly, 200 be elected by the proportional representation method and the remaining 200 by majoritarian voting."

Source: BTA