The Chair of Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassation has called for a discussion on the end date for the co-operation and verification mechanism (CVM) of the European Commission.

In a Sunday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), Lazar Gruev said that it was high time to talk about the end point of the CVM progress reports because hardly anybody remembered the initial criteria and horizons.

Gruev was adamant that the EU views on Bulgaria supplied through these reports had had a substantial contribution to the country's progress in the spheres of judiciary and home affairs.

He went on to say that the proposal to change the Constitution or draft a new one was not supposed to serve the interests of certain groups, parties, or people.

"The technical issue of the composition of the Constitution is the easier part of the question, the more difficult part concerning what we actually want," Gruev stated.

He claimed that the section of Bulgaria's existing Constitution on the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) was a very strong point and it was unique in Europe.

Gruev noted that the constitutional definition of VSS envisaged the panel as the crossroads of all three branches of power aimed at boosting cooperation between them.

Asked to comment on the proposal of the Bulgarian Judges' Association, BJA, to separate the judges' quota in VSS, he explained that the European model provided for separate quotas of judges, prosecutors, and the remaining part of the judiciary.

Gruev admitted that BJA had brought up a very important issue which merited serious discussion.

He said that their question also drew attention to the question of whether a standing VSS panel was the best option, given that it required magistrates to leave their posts for 5 years in order to serve their terms at VSS, thereby causing them to lose touch with the real problems of the system.

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