26 May 2025
Hot Rule of Law Potatoes
Bulgaria’s civil society has much anticipated a key judgment by the CJEU as concerns over the entrenched capture and politicization of the Inspectorate with the Supreme Judicial Council (JI) continue to cast doubts about judicial independence and accountability in the country. Regrettably, however, the highly formalist ruling will hardly make a difference. Continue reading >>
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06 December 2024
Bulgaria’s Controversial Prosecutor General
The ongoing nomination of Bulgaria’s next Prosecutor General, scheduled for January 16, 2025, has sparked concerns over the legitimacy of the Supreme Judicial Council, whose members’ mandates expired nearly two years ago, responsible for nominating the candidate. Despite the Constitutional Court’s ruling that the expiration of the SJC’s elected members does not dissolve the institution or suspend its functions, this decision follows a technical approach which allows nepotism and corrupted practice through the use of legal loopholes. Continue reading >>
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13 June 2024
The EPPO as a Domesticated Cat
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has just celebrated the third anniversary of the start of its operations. “I am sure you will soon see [the EPPO] is anything but a ‘toothless tiger’”, said Laura Kövesi in an interview in 2021. Sadly, in Bulgaria, a country frequently shaken by scandals implicating abuses of EU funds and known for rampant corruption, the EPPO reminds of a domesticated rather than a fierce wild cat. Continue reading >>
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18 October 2023
At a Snail’s Pace
By 1 April 2018, member states had to transpose an EU Directive on ‘the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings’. Bulgaria has not fully transposed it to this day, and consistently undermines it. Now, finally, the Commission has launched infringement proceecings. Preceding the announcement, the Commission rejected Rasosveta Vassileva's reasoned complaints on the same issue, as late as 2022. Her odyssey is a concerning tale on how EU institutions handle citizen alerts. Continue reading >>
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13 June 2023
Bulgaria’s Mafia State and the Failure of the CVM
Recent events in Bulgaria have brought the true extent of its rule of law decay to the fore. The wars between the highest-ranking prosecutors in the country, public testimonies by participants in crime syndicates implicating senior magistrates and politicians, and the brutal murders of potential witnesses against organized crime demonstrate that the line between organized crime, the judiciary, and the political apparatus is increasingly difficult to draw. In this post, I argue that the current escalation of Bulgaria’s rule of law crisis lays bare the European Commission’s continued mismanagement of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM). Continue reading >>
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02 March 2023
Barring Legal Gender Reassignment in Bulgaria
The Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) has recently rejected the possibility for legal gender reassignment of transgender people. The SCC followed the approach of the Constitutional Court in framing its reasoning alongside the lines of the traditional social values. In doing so, the interpretative decision arguably undermined its own goal of unifying the future case-law by avoiding the discussion on the right to equal treatment of transgender persons and their protection from discrimination on the ground of their sexuality. Continue reading >>29 April 2022
Bulgaria’s Failed Specialized Criminal Justice Experiment
On 14 April 2022 Bulgaria’s Parliament adopted legislative amendments, which finally put an end to the Specialized Criminal Court and its mirroring Specialized Prosecutor’s Office. Both institutions were set up during Boyko Borissov’s first term as Prime Minister in 2011 and severely undermined the rule of law in Bulgaria. The creation and development of these structures was encouraged and marked as progress by the European Commission, which calls into question the Commission’s ability to objectively monitor the rule of law in its Member States, to recognize threats, and to give adequate recommendations. Continue reading >>18 March 2022
Impunity
On 10 March 2022, Bulgaria’s Supreme Judicial Council decided unanimously to postpone examining two requests for the dismissal of General Prosecutor Ivan Geshev from office. This decision is not merely a procedural trick with questionable legality. It provides further proof that the Supreme Judicial Council has unhealthy dependencies and is one of the main reasons why a General Prosecutor of Bulgaria can abuse his office and commit crimes with impunity. Continue reading >>
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05 November 2021
Value Judgments
On 26 October 2021, the Bulgarian Constitutional Court issued a binding interpretative decision on the definition of the concept of “sex”. The Court held that “sex” can only have a binary biological meaning. Instead of engaging in a legal debate in relation to the discussed matter, the Constitutional Court chose to interpret the law through “values established in the society” that are derived from “other normative systems, such as religion, morality and custom”. The result is a judgment which not only neglects the rights and freedoms of transgender people, but also relies on a reasoning that could undermine women’s rights. Continue reading >>
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09 June 2021
Framing and Raiding
In early June 2021, Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office raided the Ministry of Interior and raised charges against a senior employee. According to the Minister of Interior Boyko Rashkov, the goal of the Prosecutor’s Office is to sabotage an inquiry into illegal wiretapping. A similar raid against the Bulgarian Presidency in July 2020 sparked mass protests. Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office has an unrestrained authority that is used as a weapon against the opponents of the status quo. Continue reading >>
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