For there to be a modern and independent Public Prosecutor’s Office, what’s needed is conditions, staff, and an independent budget. That was among the assessments presented during Tuesday’s public debate on the Public Prosecutor’s Office Bill.
The text foresees the Office’s budget amounting to 0.4% of the tax revenue of the country in the current year, if that doesn’t violate the just allocation of budget funds. The 0.4.% level has so far not been received in full by the Office.
Criminal law professor Aleksandra Dejanovska Trendafilova, who was part of the working group, said that the independence of public prosecutors was being strengthened, prosecutors would be evaluated on a shorter-term basis, and a more transparent procedure for the election of the Prosecutor General was foreseen as well.
She considers that law cannot foresee the election of the Prosecutor General through a qualified majority vote, pointing to Amendment 10 of the Constitution. However, professor Denis Preshova had said the Constitution didn’t regulate the required majority for election and appointment processes at all.