2024-09-24 05:16:32
- They announced that they were ready for protest action with “all the resulting consequences”
- DPS chairman Delyan Peevski supported them and insisted that the parliament quickly overcome the veto
Readiness for protest actions “with all the resulting consequences” announced the bar councils throughout the country because of the veto imposed by President Rumen Radev on the changes to the Law on the Bar. They released a statement in which they accused the head of state of disrespecting their profession and “equating it to a commercial activity.”
Their warning is not at all to be underestimated, because
legal representation is mandatory not only in criminal cases
DPS chairman Delyan Peevski also supported the lawyers. He appealed for the president’s veto to be overridden already at the first session of the parliament on Wednesday.
“As representatives of the people, carrying out the will of the Bulgarian citizens, we must take into account the reaction of disagreement with Radev’s veto on the part of the lawyers’ guild”, Peevski pointed out in the position.
Thus, two weeks after the deputies adopted the amendments to the Law on the Bar, which amended the Code of Civil Procedure and the Tax-Insurance Code, they will have to vote on them again. The veto will most likely be overridden because the changes were passed by a large majority, drafted and supported by the guild, and solve problems.
The main bone of contention between the lawyers and Radev is the special representative on the cases and his remuneration. Until now, a special representative was determined by the court, which also indicated the remuneration. According to the latest changes, this task is now entrusted to the local bar councils. They will judge the fee against the complexity of the case, experience, qualifications of the lawyer, etc.
The special representative is the defender who is appointed when the defendant cannot be found in the case, or there is no address where the documents can be sent to him.
The situation changed when the Court of Justice of the EU in Luxembourg was asked whether the way in which the special representative and his remuneration were determined was in line with EU law. There was also a second decision by the Court of Justice of the EU, which held that the minimum legal fees regulation was not binding on the court. According to what was said by the MP from “Vazrazhdane” Tsveta Rangelova during the debate on the first reading, after this decision there were situations where
an hour of legal work was the equivalent of a five-minute taxi ride
At the first reading, all parliamentary groups supported the new texts on the special representative and their remuneration. Then they explained that they were in the interest of the citizens.
However, according to Radev, “this is in sharp contradiction with EU law, which forbids associations of service providers to set their own prices”. The President believes that the possibility of bar councils specifying the remuneration violates the rules of the free market and restricts competition.
“Thus, in practice, lawyers become legal consultants and servants of the court, which first selects the country’s lawyer, and then sets humiliating fees for him without clear criteria and reasons”, however, according to the bar councils throughout the country.