23 April 2013

Joint Declaration on mutual support for achieving the objectives provided for by the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, adopted by the Superior Council of Magistracy of Romania and the Supreme Judicial Council of the Republic of Bulgaria

The Superior Council of Magistracy of Romania (SCM) and the Supreme Judicial Council of the Republic of Bulgaria (SJC) have adopted in April 2013 a joint declaration on mutual support in order to achieve the benchmarks within the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.

On 18 April 2013, the text of the joint declaration has been approved by the Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council of the Republic of Bulgaria, taking into consideration the wording agreed upon by the two parties during the working visit of the representatives of the SCM at Veliko Tarnovo, 8-9 April 2013.

By the joint declaration, SCM and SJC have noted the utility of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and have stressed that the two judicial systems have achieved important progress within this mechanism.

Reaffirming the common values, the two Councils have declared their intention to cooperate by mutual information and consultation, but also to support each other in fulfilling the objectives set up by the CVM, and by the sustained efforts of all the stakeholders in the two countries, to achieve as soon as possible the CVM benchmarks, thus perfecting the European integration of the two states.

In this context, the two Councils welcome the publishing of the EU Justice Scoreboard on the Member States’ judicial systems, published by the European Commission on 27 March 2013 and express their interest and their availability on the evolution of this tool.