Bulgaria's Governing Coalition Urges Top Judicial Body to Dissolve Itself

Parties forming Bulgaria's governing coalition on Tuesday urged the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) to dissolve itself following a string of scandals involving VSS members in recent days.

The call for dissolving the VSS comes just a day before the release of a key report of the European Commission under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).

According to a draft of the report, the European Commission is expected to point to VSS weaknesses such as absence of transparency in VSS appointments, lack of consistency in its disciplinary practices and potential manipulation of allocation of cases.

A declaration calling for the disbanding of the governing body of Bulgaria's justice system was presented by Tsvetan Tsvetanov, leader of the parliamentary group of GERB party, at a news conference after a meeting of the governing coalition in the National Assembly.

Earlier on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva, co-chair of the junior partner in the coalition, the Reformist Bloc (RB), called on the members of the VSS to resign in order to preserve the reputation of the institution.

The RB, however, hasn't signed the declaration put forward by GERB. They plan to seek the resignation of VSS througha separate declaration on Wednesday, according to mediapool.bg

The governing coalition of GERB and the RB could no longer trust the present VSS after the series of public scandals generated by its members; the VSS has completely exhausted the public confidence bestowed upon it, according to the declaration.

Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov and most members of VSS are said to have gathered to discuss the call for dissolving the VSS, according to mediapool.bg.