Bulgaria President Talks Judicial Reform with EU General Court Delegation

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Vice President Margarita Popova discussed Monday judicial reform in the EU with Marc Jaeger, President of the General Court of the European Union, and his accompanying delegation.

“The General Court of the European Union has the serious responsibility of being an engine for European integration. The creation of common rules and the assertion of the sense of community of European citizens is the road to a more integrated Europe with more justice and solidarity,” Plevneliev and Popova suggested at the meeting, as cited by the President’s press office.

The representatives of the General Court of the European Union are on a three-day official visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of the Bulgarian Vice President.

The delegation is headed by Marc Jaeger and includes Presidents of Chambers at the General Court of the European Union Joseph Azizi, Savvas Papasavvas, and Heikki Kanninen, and Judges Mariyana Kancheva, Ingrida Labucka, and Santiago Soldevilla Fragoso.

Plevneliev assured Jaeger that Bulgaria would complete the judicial reform successfully, restoring the confidence of the citizens and Bulgaria’s partners in the fairness in courts.

“Bulgaria can use the experience of the General Court of the European Union in electronic document exchange to increase the transparency of the decision-making process in institutions,” Bulgaria’s head of state noted.

“We are fully aware of the huge responsibility which the General Court of the European Union has as an entity at the foundations of the EU’s judicial system,” Popova said during the meeting.

She argued that deepening dialogue between national and European institutions for the establishment of a common legal framework of the EU was essential for the future of the European integration.

“Bulgaria has the ambition to be an active participant in this dialogue and to make its contribution to the sustainable development of the EU,” Popova declared.

It was agreed that the spirit of solidarity had to unite EU Member States behind the purpose of keeping their obligations amid the ongoing economic and financial crisis.

Marc Jaeger acquainted Plevneliev and Popova with the reform implemented at the General Court of the European Union to increase the efficiency of the institution.

He emphasized that confidence in the General Court of the European Union had increased overt the past 20 years, as the court came up with pronouncements on all types of claims by natural and legal entities and in certain cases by Member States, which necessitated the introduction of changes retaining the ability of the Court to keep working within short terms on the cases referred to it.

Earlier on Monday, the delegation of the General Court of the European Union met with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to discuss the progress of judicial reform in Bulgaria.

Borisov assured the President of the General Court of the EU that the Bulgarian government was doing everything possible to provide new facilities to courts in Sofia and other parts of the country, stressing that the improvements absorbed tens of millions of leva.

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister voiced optimism that the judiciary would manage to reform itself successfully, after which the co-operation and verification (CVM) mechanism of the EC would be lifted.