A remark by European Integration Minister Meglena Kouneva caused upset among the ruling coalition and sparked controversy about Bulgaria’s readiness to join the European Union as scheduled on January 1 2007.
Kouneva made the remark on March 22 when addressing members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Kouneva’s remark, picked by up by reporters in an adjoining room, was that the EU could invoke the safeguard clause of Bulgaria’s EU accession treaty in connection with Chapter 24, Justice and Home Affairs.
Invocation of the “pause clause” would mean that Bulgaria’s EU would be postponed by one year.
Kouneva’s visit to the SJC was aimed at presenting a report by a European Commission (EC) team on their peer review on Chapter 24 conducted at the end of February.
One of the main recommendations in the report referred to the powers of the Minister of Justice. The EC team said that the SJC had to preserve its powers to draft and propose the budget of the judiciary. Amendments to the Bulgarian constitution, the second reading of which was approved by Parliament in February, provided for the budget of the judiciary to be drafted by the Minister of Justice. Kouneva said that the EC’s recommendation had to be taken into account during the third reading of the amendments, to dispel suspicions of an attempt to restrict the independence of part of the judiciary.
The report also recommended that the SJC should have the right to remove the chairpersons of supreme courts. Under amendments to the constitution, the chairpersons of the supreme courts and the Prosecutor-General may be removed by motion of Parliament.
Kouneva is in her second term as European Integration Minister. The then-prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, leader of the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII), appointed her a minister in 2001. After the June 2005 parliamentary elections, a Government coalition was formed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), NMSII and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, with BSP leader Sergei Stanishev as Prime Minister. Kouneva and State Administration Minister Nikolai Vassilev were the only ones who remained as ministers in the new Government.
Kouneva’s March 22 remark was unofficial and later speculation emerged in Bulgarian-language media that she was unaware that reporters could hear what she was saying, and that was the reason why she had spoken so frankly.
What followed could be described as a roaring wave hitting Kouneva, who thus far has been considered one of Bulgaria’s most successful ministers. The harshest reaction came from BSP floor leader Mihail Mikov, who, later the same day, told Parliament that Kouneva’s statement was “disgraceful, as for over three months she could not find time to meet with the parliamentary ad hoc committee on amendments to the constitution, and state to Parliament her clear position on the direction of expectations about the constitutional changes”. Mikov said that the BSP was extremely surprised by Kouneva’s visit to the SJC and her statements that the SJC should fight for independence from both the executive and judicial branches of government.
“We have never tried to curb this independence,” Mikov said.
He said that the amendments to the constitution were designed to improve the interaction between the branches of Government.
Later the same day, Kouneva gave a news conference on the issue. Emotions had never been a good adviser, she said, referring to Mikov’s comment. However, she said that the EC report was not final and that experts could not make recommendations about invoking the safeguard clause, but drew conclusions and presented the real situation. Only the EU could recommend the activation of the safeguard clause, Kouneva said, in an apparent attempt to calm emotions.
According to Kouneva, the EC report discussed article 130a of the constitution, as well as the possibility for interference in the judiciary. This article concerns the Justice Minister’s powers.
“What we understand under ‘to control the activities on opening, movement and closure of cases’ (item 5 of article 130a) needs additional clarification for experts who are not deeply aware of our legal system’s traditions,” Kouneva said.
“There is no doubt that we are in more of a critical moment now and we cannot underestimate any signal about not understanding or controversial interpretations of the activities undertaken by any of the Bulgarian powers,” she said.
