EditCaretaker cabinet withdraws Bulgaria’s EPPO nominees over flawed selection procedure
The Justice minister cites lack of transparency, concerns over political neutrality, and questions over the independence of the selection panel
Bulgaria’s caretaker cabinet is preparing to withdraw the country’s three nominees for the post of European Prosecutor, after the justice ministry concluded that the national selection procedure was marked by serious procedural flaws and raised substantial concerns over the independence of the panel that conducted it.
Caretaker Justice Minister Andrey Yankulov said on Tuesday the procedure used to select the three Bulgarian candidates had not been based on rules that could be considered objective, clear, or transparent. The Council of Ministers is expected to vote on the proposal today.
Speaking to reporters, Yankulov said his team had identified “serious deficits” in the nomination process, with the most significant concerns linked to the composition of the selection commission itself.
Four of the seven members of the panel came from Bulgaria’s Supreme Judicial Council, split between its judicial and prosecutorial colleges. However, the mandate of the current council expired in October 2022, and it has remained in place only because parliament has failed to elect its quota for a new body.
According to Yankulov, the expired mandate of the council calls into question the independence of those members, particularly given that they effectively formed a majority in the commission. He noted that Bulgarian law already bars an expired council from appointing the Prosecutor General or the presidents of the two supreme courts, arguing that the position of European Prosecutor is no less significant.
Two additional members of the panel were also political appointees at the time of the procedure – a deputy justice minister and the ministry’s secretary general. This, the caretaker minister argued, raises serious doubts over the independence and political neutrality of six out of the commission’s seven members.
Yankulov stressed that the move has nothing to do with the professional qualities of the three shortlisted candidates themselves, but concerns only the deficiencies in the way the process was organised.
The three nominees, approved by the previous GERB-mandated government in resignation on 21 January, are Dimitar Belichev, Mihaela Raidovska and Plamen Petkov. Their names had already circulated in public space well before the official selection by the special commission.
Behind closed doors: how Bulgaria is selecting its next European Prosecutor
The justice minister said the procedure should be relaunched under a newly designed model aimed at restoring confidence in the process. Under his proposal, the new commission would include a university professor selected at random, two criminal judges from the Supreme Court of Cassation elected by the general assembly of the chamber, a prosecutor from the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office nominated by the deputy Prosecutor General, and a lawyer with at least 12 years of experience in criminal or EU law, selected by the Supreme Bar Council.
If the timeline proceeds as expected, Bulgaria should still be able to complete the new procedure before the current Bulgarian representative’s term in the College of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office expires, Yankulov said.
European Prosecutors are appointed by the Council of the EU for a six-year term, with the next mandate expected to begin at the end of July. The term of European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi also ends in October, when she is due to be succeeded by her current German deputy, Andres Ritter.
The issue carries additional political sensitivity in Bulgaria because the country’s first European Prosecutor, Teodora Georgieva, became an exceptional case within the short history of the EPPO. No other national representative has been removed following disciplinary proceedings.
More recently, Georgieva submitted a report to Bulgarian authorities alleging actions involving acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov, Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office head Emiliya Rusinova, and DPS leader Delyan Peevski, who has been sanctioned for corruption by both U.S. and UK.
Bulgarian EPPO prosecutor dangles complaint shaking the political and judicial scene
General Court appointments open
Bulgaria is also launching a national procedure to appoint two judges to the General Court of the European Union, part of the Court of Justice of the EU.
The two new judges will fill the seats vacated by Alexander Kornezov, who was elevated to the higher Court of Justice in July 2025, and Mariana Kancheva, whose mandate expired in 2025.
Applicants must meet the requirements for appointment to Bulgaria’s supreme courts, demonstrate high professional standards and independence, and possess a command of the French language.
There are no uniform EU-wide rules governing how judges are selected, and each member state is free to follow its own national procedure.
The process in Bulgaria has been significantly delayed, and the country has effectively been without judges at the General Court for around a year. It is therefore necessary to move forward with filling the vacancies, as the prolonged absence is already creating logistical difficulties for the court, the minister explained.
Caption: File photo. Justice Minister Andrey Yankulov speaks to journalists./Press service of the Ministry of Justice.
Updated: April 8, 2026 - 05:16
