Supreme Judicial Council

Lawmakers in the Legal Affairs Committee with Bulgaria's Parliament have rejected constitutional changes supported by the Justice Ministry.

Amendments were narrowly (5-6) voted down in a Tuesday sitting of the committee which comes ahead of a plenary session later this week.

Though committee votes are not binding, they often point to how MPs will act at the plenary.

Kaloyan Topalov has been elected Chair of the Sofia City Court.

Topalov, judge at the Civil Division of the Sofia City Court and the only candidate for the post, was elected at a Wednesday meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) with 14 votes in favor, 3 votes against, and 5 abstentions.

The Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) will elect on Wednesday the chair of Sofia City Court (SGS) as the titular position has been vacant since February.

The sole candidate to run for the position is the judge from SGS Kaloyan Topalov, daily Dnevnik reports.

Bulgaria's Ministry of Justice has published its draft proposals to introduce changes to the judiciary.

Amendments put forward by Minister Hristo Ivanov include changes to the structure and organization of the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS), a top watchdog often labeled "the government of the judiciary".

Bulgaria's Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov is due to table on Friday new legal amendments which  the government says will bring about a judicial reform.

A document is to be published on the Justice Ministry's website to trigger a public debate.

No complete draft list of the proposed reforms has been produced so far.

The Bulgarian government announced on Wednesday the establishment of a National council on anti-corruption policies with advisory, coordinating and control functions to the Ministerial Council.

The council will be responsible for the development and implementation of policies on preventing and countering corruption, the government's press service informs.

Bulgarian MPs, coming from parties participating in the coalition government or supporting it, tabled on Tuesday the amendments to the constitution concerning the judicial reform.

The MPs supporting the changes are from the main ruling party GERB, its junior coalition partner the Reformist Bloc (RB) and one of the parties supporting the government - the Patriotic Front (PF).

97 MPs placed signatures in support of a set of proposed changes to Bulgaria's Constitution on Wednesday, according to Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva.

Bulgaria's ruling parties start collecting signatures in favor of a set of proposed changes to the Constitution and the bill is expected to be submitted to the Parliament's registry by the end of Wednesday.

The condition of the Bulgarian judiciary is not a strictly domestic affair and it of interest for France too, according to French Ambassador to Bulgaria Xavier Lapeyre de Cabanes.

Speaking Thursday at a conference on the rule of law, he said that France was interested in judicial reform in Bulgaria because both countries were EU Member States.