Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

President Radev takes the election of constitutional judges to court

Rumen Radev
Photo: BTA

President Rumen Radev has formally filed a request with the Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional the decisions of the National Assembly on the appointment of constitutional judges. In his statement, the President underscores that the Constitution mandates Parliament to uphold principles of openness, transparency, publicity, and reasonableness in the selection of body members to ensure their independence. According to the head of state, these principles have been violated, which jeopardises the authority of the Constitutional Court, the presidential press centre reported. 


At issue is the election last week of two constitutional judges: Desislava Atanasova, a long-time leader of the GERB-SDS parliamentary group who has participated in the adoption of hundreds of laws, from the parliamentary quota, and former Supreme Court of Cassation judge Borislav Belazelkov, nominated by the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB).
Meanwhile, fourteen bar associations in the country have also called on Parliament to overturn the decision to elect Atanasova and Belazelkov, reports Free Europe. According to the bar associations, the law was only formally observed in the election, as the two nominations were submitted at the last minute without public discussion. They point out that Atanasova has no experience as a judge, having worked briefly as a legal adviser in a psychiatric hospital.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

EC hopes for positive decision on part of payments under Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience Plan

The European Commission hopes to have a positive decision this year on at least part of the second payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan in the amount of 653 million euros for Bulgaria . This was stated by the Commission spokesman Maciej..

published on 2/27/25 3:20 PM
Rositsa Mateva

CEC: There will be no recount of ballots from the last elections

There will be no recount of ballots from the recent parliamentary elections in October 2024. The Central Election Commission (CEC) met today after the Constitutional Court yesterday ordered a recount of the parliamentary election results due to numerous..

published on 2/27/25 1:54 PM

Supermarket boycott already bearing fruit, says agriculture minister

The effects of the protests against supermarkets are being felt, Agriculture Minister Georgi Tahov said in Plovdiv, where he was attending a national meeting of fruit and vegetable producers. He added that there had already been a drop in the price of..

published on 2/27/25 1:09 PM