BULGARIA LAUNCHES PLAN TO REFORM JUDICIARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SOFIA 000548

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/28/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM BU
SUBJECT: BULGARIA LAUNCHES PLAN TO REFORM JUDICIARY

REF: SOFIA 515

Classified By: CDA John Ordway for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: On September 9, the Bulgarian government
publicly released a 57-point action plan to address the 21
European Commission (EC) recommendations to improve rule of
law. The action plan calls for increasing coordination and
transparency in government, creating an anti-organized crime
joint task force, and re-writing the criminal procedure code.
The new center-right government has set an ambitious
December deadline to complete this agenda, which will require
extensive changes to legislation. Although the action plan
is light on detail, the fact that the government has already
taken concrete steps to implement EU and Embassy
recommendations suggests this effort -- unlike the action
plans of previous government -- may amount to more than just
words on paper. End Summary.

IMPETUS FOR THE ACTION PLAN
--------------


2. (SBU) On July 22, the European Commission released a
critical report citing Bulgaria's lack of progress on
judicial reform and combating corruption and organized crime.
The EC argues that Bulgaria has not gone after enough 'big
fish,' and has not closed legal loopholes allowing criminals
to indefinitely postpone cases. The EC made 21
recommendations, which closely parallel Post's four policy
recommendations on anti-money laundering reform, asset
forfeiture, organized crime task forces, and specialized
courts (reftel). The Commission also urged the Bulgarian
government to reform its criminal laws and procedures to
better fight organized crime.

THE PLAN: THE POSITIVES
--------------


3. (SBU) The new GERB government's 57-point action plan,
released September 9, sets a December deadline to implement
judicial reform and strengthen anti-organized crime and
corruption laws. On the positive side, the action plan sets
legislative goals to reform the criminal procedure code,
implements numerous auditing procedures to help prevent
low-level corruption, and sets a short timeline to implement
Post's recommended joint anti-corruption task force and
improvements to the asset forfeiture and money laundering
laws.


4. (SBU) The Bulgarian government has already made some
tangible progress on many of these goals. A working group
chaired by the Deputy Justice Minister is working on a draft
of changes to the criminal procedure code, which if passed as
is, would increase the penalties for witnesses and experts
who fail to appear in court (a popular tactic in organized
crime cases),allow police testimony to be admissible in
court, limit the number of lawyers representing a defendant,
and increase the minimum punishments for guilty pleas. These
changes to the criminal procedure code would likely speed up
organized crime and corruption cases, which drag on for years
in the current system. On another positive note, the
Ministry of Interior, the State Agency for National Security
(SANS),and the Prosecutor's office have already signed an
agreement to launch a joint anti-corruption task force by
October 1.

AND THE NEGATIVES
--------------


5. (C) On the negative side, many of the points in the new
action plan are vague and short on specifics. At times the
plan merely parrots verbatim the EC recommendations such as
setting a November 15 deadline to adopt "an integrated
strategy against organized crime and corruption." The plan
also lists a number of easy to accomplish actions such as six
points involving analysis and monitoring existing laws, five
points requiring publicly publishing reports, four action
points on holding meetings and organizing training, and at
least 11 action points merely identifying laws to be amended.
This document's laundry-list style lessens its usefulness
and makes it look alarmingly similar to the previous
Socialist government's 80 point rule of law action plan.


6. (C) Comment: The new action plan is geared toward showing
progress ahead of the next interim EC report in January 2010.
While its sometimes vague language and emphasis on quantity
over quality raise questions about its overall effectiveness,
the actions taken on rule of law issues so far lend
confidence that this government means business. In the end,
the new government will be judged not on the quality of its
plan, but on its ability to speed up corruption cases, close
legal loop holes, and prosecute previously untouchable
organized crime figures. End Comment.

ORDWAY