Tag: Venice Commission

Bulgaria’s Constitutional Drama and the Recent Judgment by the Constitutional Court

.Reading time 1 minute.

On 26 July 2024, Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court declared a significant part of constitutional amendments enacted in a rush in December 2023 unconstitutional. These amendments were allegedly aimed at the depoliticization of the Supreme Judicial Council and the decentralization of the Prosecutor’s Office, and had been praised as progress in the country’s latest 2024 Rule of Law report by the EU Commission. Yet, a closer looks shows that the amendments do not comply with key recommendations by the Venice Commission and could worsen an already dire situation.

Sadly, in the case of Bulgaria, the EU Commission has a long history of seeing progress when the rule of law is under assault, as visible by the failed Cooperation and Verification system which did not help the country solve a single major rule of law challenge. Why does the EU Commission recognize as progress any step in any direction without analysis of its merit in context? You can read my latest analysis of the Verfassungsblog here.

Bulgaria, a Rule of Law Crisis in All but Name

.Reading time 2 minutes.

In January 2020, Transparency International reconfirmed Bulgaria as the most corrupt EU member in its authoritative Corruption Perceptions Index. This is a good, but sad occasion to inform you about my latest media articles:

  • In December 2019, I warned that Bulgaria was sabotaging the work of the future European Public Prosecutor in an article for Euronews. As you can imagine, the government was quite unhappy and responded with a libelous article published in their favorite tabloid (24 Chasa). If you cannot attack the argument, attack the author.
  • In February 2020, I raised concern about the water crisis in Pernik, which I deem to be an illustration of what the lack of rule of law leads to, in an article for New Eastern Europe. The health and safety of more than 100,000 European Union citizens is at peril as a result of incompetence and negligence, but international media and EU policy-makers ignore this disaster.
  • In February 2020, I showcased Bulgaria’s 10-year cat-and-mouse game with the Council of Europe in an article for the Verfassungsblog. Bulgaria has been refusing to comply with a decision by the European Court of Human Rights for a decade because it requires a reform of an institution which experts consider one of the biggest threats to the rule of law – Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office.

All of these events provide further evidence that Bulgaria is a rule of law crisis in all but name – an argument I have made for the EUobserver in 2018. Sadly, this is possible because of the complicity of EU institutions.

For the latest updates on Bulgaria’s rule of law, follow me on Twitter @radosveta_vass!