http://dx.doi.org/10.59704/1e12e461f7d14a10 https://verfassungsblog.de/bulgaria-legality-crisis/ Systemic Pathologies - Bulgaria’s Crisis of Legality Thavard, Blaga eng 2025-10-01 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Democratic Backsliding Judiciary Principle of Legality prosecution Prosecutor General Rule of Law Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 Bulgaria has been marked by worrisome developments pointing to its democratic decline. After the Sofia Court of Appeal upheld the pre-trial detention of the city of Varna’s mayor Blagomir Kotsev, the Supreme Judicial Council refused to apply the six-month limit on Borislav Sarafov’s tenure as acting Prosecutor General. Taken together, these episodes point to a systemic pathology: institutions formally invoke the law, yet interpret it in ways that deprive it of its normative sense. Legality is reduced to form without substance, and no longer protects rights but instead serves as an instrument of institutional self-preservation and control.