Bulgaria’s constitutional drama and the EU Commission’s rose-colored glasses

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Vassileva, R. 2024. Bulgaria’s constitutional drama and the EU Commission’s rose-colored glasses. Verfassungsblog. https://doi.org/10.59704/f8ab8d794882e79f
TypeBlog
TitleBulgaria’s constitutional drama and the EU Commission’s rose-colored glasses
AuthorsVassileva, R.
Abstract

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 Rule of Law report by the EU Commission. Yet, a closer look 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.

KeywordsRule of law; Rule of law reports mechanism; Constitutional reform; Bulgarian law; politicized Supreme Judicial Council; prosecutorial arbitrariness; Venice Commission
Sustainable Development Goals16 Peace, justice and strong institutions
Middlesex University ThemeSustainability
Publication or CollectionVerfassungsblog: On Matters Constitutional
ISSN2366-7044
PublisherVerfassungsblog
Publication dates
Online30 Jul 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted29 Jul 2024
Deposited05 Aug 2024
Output statusPublished
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Open
Copyright Statement

All posts on Verfassungsblog are published under a CC BY SA 4.0 license.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.59704/f8ab8d794882e79f
LanguageEnglish
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