2024-08-21 11:06:31
It would be difficult – first 60 votes are needed, and then 160 deputies to vote
Can impeachment proceedings be started against President Rumen Radev because of his refusal to sign a decree appointing Goritza Kozhareva’s cabinet?
Politicians and members of the public got into a new dispute a day after the head of state’s decision.
Radev should be removed because he violates the constitution, requested today from the “Atlantic Council of Bulgaria” on their official Facebook page.
“In the basic law, it is imperatively stated that the president “upon the proposal of the candidate for interim prime minister appoints an interim government and schedules new elections within two months”. Appoints, but cannot appoint. He is obliged to appoint after receiving the proposal from the candidate for acting prime minister”, wrote the former diplomats from the organization in question.
“The president irretrievably violated the constitution. The Bulgarian political “elite” – in quotation marks, because I think there is none anymore, did not react. He ran over the constitution and sent Bulgaria towards Moscow”, reacted the chairman of the DPS Delyan Peevski.
GERB, however, did not see that the president violated the constitution. “The president has the right to refuse. If the constitution provided for complete impossibility to refuse, it would have been provided for by the legislature. It could be an oversight, it could be intentional, but in any case it was decided that way”, commented MP Tervel Georgiev. Shortly before that, GERB leader Boyko Borisov demanded the resignation of the Interior Ministry chief – it was his presence on Kozhareva’s list that led to Radev’s refusal.
However, when and how can impeachment of the president be requested? According to the constitution, it is only in two cases – in case of treason and in case of violation of the basic law. A procedure must be initiated by 1/4 of the people’s representatives (60 out of 240). And to be supported by 2/3 of the composition of the National Assembly, or 160 people.
“If this happens, the decision is transferred to the SC. There should be a representative of the National Assembly there to support the accusation. A lawsuit is filed. It is very different from the general procedure of constitutional justice. The president is already personally involved in the case, he can defend himself with a lawyer, and things proceed like a trial, although it is different – it proceeds according to the Civil Procedure Code, but not according to the general rules of the courts. If the court accepts that there is treason or a violation of the constitution, then this judicial removal of the president can happen”, explained to “24 Chasa” Hristo Ormandzhiev, PhD, professor of constitutional law at the University of Veliko Tarnovo.
“Nowhere is it written that he is obliged to sign the decree. To me, this is the president’s control mechanism in relation to the caretaker government. Such control mechanisms almost did not remain after the change in the constitution”, he said.
Professor Georgi Bliznashki, a professor of constitutional law and himself a former acting prime minister, also sees in the text of the basic law the right of Radev to refuse to sign the decree. “So far, there is no violation of the basic law,” Prof. Ekaterina Mihailova was categorical before the BNR on Monday. According to her, the request of Radev – the 50th National Assembly to fill the vacant positions, cannot be a reason for impeachment either.