Members of the Bulgarian judiciary will receive an additional, 13th salary for 2009, following an emergency meeting on Wednesday between senior ministers and magistrates, but only following the approval of the Council of Ministers.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov had convened the meeting with the Ministers of Finance and Justice, the Chief Prosecutor, the Chair of the Supreme Administrative Court and other senior magistrates.

Some hours earlier, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov had written to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to explain that he could not allow a bonus that was due to paid last year, to be paid instead in the current financial year, because this would be illegal.

Djankov had referred to the Bulgarian Judiciary Act, that states that moneys which, after December 31, 2009, were already part of the transitional budget balance, could be used to fund shortfalls of revenue only.

Following a meeting of several hours’ duration between the Minister of Finance and the senior judiciary, where they had failed to come to any agreement, they had decided that the Council of Ministers should rule on the issue.

The decision may be taken at the signature stage in a few days or await the next cabinet meeting, scheduled for next week. This procedure would authorize the release of BGN 28 M from the transitional budget to provide for the judiciary’s bonuses.

The government’s decision was followed by the disclosure that the Ministry of Justice had paid out bonuses to its officials and employees, distributing over BGN 827 000 among the staff. It remained unclear whether the cash would be returned, which is what Minister Djankov had instructed.

Of that amount, some BGN 435 000 had been paid out to employees who had worked on successful European projects. According to the announcement, the payments had been made before December 11, the date the ban by the Finance Minister had been issued.

Two further ministries, those of agriculture and regional affairs, mentioned by Boyko Borisov as having allocated bonuses before the end of 2009, were asked by him to return the money. Officials in Rosen Plevneliev’s Regional Development Ministry had received bonus payments as early as the Bulgarian Day of the Builders – October 26, 2009.

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