The Constitutional Court justices assume their duties upon taking an oath of office in the presence of the Speaker of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court.
Pavlina Panova -
chairman
Date and place of birth: February 12, 1967, Gramada, Vidin.
Education: Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia (1992). Regional Prosecutor at the Regional Prosecutors’ Office, Sofia (1992-1994); judge at the Sofia Regional Court (1994-1998); judge at the Sofia City Court (1998-2001); judge at the Sofia Court of Appeal (2001-2007); judge at the Supreme Court of Cassation, Penal Division (2007-2018); deputy to the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation and Chairperson of the Penal Division of the Supreme Court of Cassation (2013-2018). Doctor of Philosophy in law at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia (2004), Master in European Union Law (2007), Part-time lecturer of criminal law at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia (1996-2000). Lecturing at the National Institute of Justice (2000), Lecturing at Attorneys’ Training Centre „Krastiu Tsonchev“ (2008). Specialization in T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague, specializations in European Union law in Germany and in European Institute of Public Administration in Luxembourg. Specializations in Denmark, Poland and France. National Representative of Bulgaria in the Joint Supervisory Body of Eurojust. Since the beginning of 2009 she has been an ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Author of articles and publications, co-author of a collection of case law and monographs. Member of the Union of Bulgarian Jurists. Founder and Member of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Association for European Law and Member of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria. Elected Constitutional Court Justice by the Joint Meeting of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court (2018).
Konstantin Penchev -
judge
Date and place of birth: March 21, 1952, Sofia. Education: Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia (1976). Postgraduate specialization in Protection of Competition, France (1991). Trainee judge at the Sofia District Court (1977 – 1978). Junior judge at the Sofia City Court (1979 - 1981). Chairman of the Svoge Regional Court (1981 - 1984). Expert at the Contracts and Legal Matters Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1984 - 1986). Judge at the Sofia District Court (1986 - 1989). Deputy Chairman of the Sofia District Court (1989 - 1994). Lawyer at the Sofia Bar Association (1994 - 2004). Member of the XXXIX National Assembly (2000 - 2004). Chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court (2004 - 2010). Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria (2010 - 2015). Elected Constitutional Court Justice by the XLIII National Assembly (2015).
Mariana Karagiozova-Finkova -
judge
Date and place of birth: September 21, 1949, Burgas. Education: Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, specialized in "State Legal Studies” and “Jurisdiction” (1971). Trainee lawyer (1972-1973). After a PhD dissertation defense, full-time Assistant Professor, Senior Assistant, Chief Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law Studies at the Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia (1979-1996); since 1996 – Associate Professor in Constitutional Law; since 2009 – Professor of Constitutional Law.
Lecture courses on Constitutional Law of the Republic of Bulgaria at: Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia – Law and International Relations degree programmes; Faculty of Philosophy – Public Administration degree programme; at New Bulgarian University - Department of National and International Security and Law programme; Constitutional Justice at: Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia – Law programme; Faculty of Philosophy - European Studies programme; Burgas Free University – Law programme; European Constitutionalism at the Faculty of Philosophy - European Studies programme; Institutions and the decision-making process in the European Union at the Faculty of Philosophy - Public Administration programme. Specialization at universities in Prague, Moscow, Leiden, Maastricht, Philadelphia, Florence, Fribourg. Author of monographs, studies, articles and publications in the field of constitutional justice and public legal aspects of the European Union. Head of the Constitutional Law Studies Department at the Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia (2003-2013). Member of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Law (2005-2014), and the General Assembly of Sofia University for this period. Member of the specialized council of legal studies at the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC) (2005-2012). Appointed Constitutional Court Justice by the President of the Republic (2015).
Nadezhda Dzhelepova -
judge
Date and place of birth: January 29, 1959, Burgas. Education: Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia (1983). Trainee judge at the Sofia District Court (1983 – 1984). Junior judge at the Sofia District Court (1984-1986). Regional judge at the Regional Court of Elin Pelin (1986 – 1989). Arbitrator at the City State Arbitration Court (1989-1991). Justice (1991 – 1995) and Deputy Chairperson (1995 – 2000) of the Sofia District Court. Justice, Chairperson of Division, Deputy Chairperson at the Supreme Administrative Court (2000 – 2018). Lecturer in seminars in administrative law (2010 – 2015). Elected Constitutional Court Justice by the Joint Meeting of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court (2018).
Philip Dimitrov -
judge
Date and place of birth: March 31, 1955, Sofia. Education: Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia (1977). Specialization in Woodrow Wilson Center (2003). PhD in Political Science at New Bulgarian University (2010). Law practice for a period of 20 years (between 1979 and 2015, with breaks). Founder and Secretary of the Union of Lawyers in Bulgaria (1989 – 1990). Lecturer at: the American University in Blagoevgrad (2002 - 2008), University of Toronto, Canada (2007), Christopher Newport University, Virginia, USA (2008-2009), New Bulgarian University, Sofia (2015). Member of the XXXVI and XXXVII National Assembly and Vice-President of the XL National Assembly. Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria with the United Nations (1997 - 1998) and the USA (1998 - 2002) and with the European Union in Georgia (2010 - 2014). Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria (1991 -1992). Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Georgia, Tbilisi (2014). Author of political and politico-legal studies and historical novels.
Appointed Constitutional Court Justice by the President of the Republic (2015).
Tanya Raykovska -
judge
Date and place of birth: December 15, 1956, Veliko Tarnovo. Education: Faculty of Law, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia (1978). Trainee judge at the Veliko Tarnovo District Court (May 1979 – May 1980). Legal adviser in Veliko Tarnovo (July 1980 – June 1981). Junior judge at the Veliko Tarnovo District Court (June 1981 – December 1985); judge at the Sofia Regional Court (January 1987 – February 1993); judge at the Sofia City Court (February 1993 – November 1998); judge – Head of the Company Division at the Sofia City Court (November 1998 – June 2001). Judge at the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) (June 2001 – June 2005). Judge at SCC – Head of the first commercial division (June 2005 – March 2012); Acting Deputy Chairperson and Head of the Commercial Division at SCC (March 2012 – May 2012); Deputy Chairperson and Head of the Commercial Division at SCC (May 2012 – November 2014); Acting President of the SCC (November 2014 – February 2015); Deputy Chairperson and Head of the Commercial Division at SCC (February 2015 – November 2015). Specializations in EU Competition Law; human rights and EU law. Participation in various projects: "Comprehensive Review of the Administrative and Commercial Justice Systems in Bulgaria"; "Rapprochement of Bulgarian Company Law with the EU Acquis"; "Modernization of the Commercial Register in Bulgaria"; "Publicity and Efficiency of Insolvency Proceedings", etc. Participation in the working conferences of The European Supreme Commercial Judges Forum, in the International Conference of the Presidents of Supreme Courts in Central and Eastern Europe /questions on the independence of the judiciary and ensuring the rule of law/; participation in various working groups drafting bills related to commercial law. Commercial insolvency lecturer at the National Institute of Justice, part-time lecturer for many years in civil procedure and commercial law at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. Co-author of a collection of insolvency case law. Member of the Union of Bulgarian Jurists. Elected Constitutional Court Justice by the Joint Meeting of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court (2015).
The Constitution provides that no power of the Constitutional Court shall be vested or suspended by a law.
Art. 149 para 1 of the Constitution lists in 8 points the Constitutional Court competencies.
Other Constitutional provisions complete the Constitutional Court competencies.
Art. 149 para 1 subpara 1 vests the Bulgarian Constitutional Court with the competence to provide binding interpretations of the Constitution. There is a difference between this interpretation competence and the case interpretation when the Constitutional Court exercises its other competencies. While binding interpretation seeks to extract normative sense of the interpreted Constitutional provisions, it is not charged with the settlement of a specific constitutional dispute.
The second substantial powers of the Court is to rule on complaints to the constitutionality of the laws and other acts of the National Assembly and the decrees of the President. This control is in fact the Constitutional Court’s major competency and the greatest number of instituted and resolved cases relate to it. It is post-promulgation control as it extends on legal acts that have already been promulgated in Darzhaven vestnik (The State Gazette).
Also, the Constitutional Court may rule on the compatibility of domestic laws with the universally recognized norms of international law and the international instruments to which Bulgaria is a party. The Constitutional Court is empowered to rule on competence disputes between the National Assembly, the President and the Council of Ministers and between the bodies of local self-government and the central executive branch of government.
Further, the Constitutional Court rules on challenges to the constitutionality of political parties and associations, on challenges to the legality of the election of the President and Vice President or of a Member of Parliament. The Constitutional Court decides on impeachment brought by the National Assembly against the President or the Vice President for treason or violation of the Constitution.
The Constitution vests the Constitutional Court with a competence which goes beyond fact-finding: this is the stripping of a Constitutional Court justice of his immunity. Doing that the Court finds facts and also assesses facts and passes its ruling on the basis of this assessment.
It was preceded by three constitutions: the so-called Constitution of Turnovo, adopted on April 16, 1879, the Constitution of December 6, 1947, the Constitution of May 18, 1971. , None of these constitutions provided a specialized state body for constitutional control. ,,The Constitution of 1971 explicitly stated that it was the National Assembly that could control that a law it had passed did not contravene the Constitution (Art. 85). The new Constitution adopted on July 12, 1991 by the Grand National Assembly provided for creation of a Constitutional Court (Chapter 8). After the entering into force of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court Act was passed (August 16, 1991). The Constitutional Court was constituted on October 3, 1991. On December 26, 1991, the Court approved the Rules of the Organization and Activities of the Constitutional Court, and by the end of the same year it passed two decisions on cases which it had been approached with. Like most of the Constitutional Courts in Europe, the Bulgarian Constitutional Court exercises post-promulgation (after the act’s publication) on the consistency of with the Constitution, and not pre-promulgation control. Besides the Bulgarian Constitutional Court is vested with a competence to interpret the Constitution (Art. 149 para 1 subpara 1). These decisions of the Constitutional Court are binding on all State institutions, including the National Assembly. They have an important preventive as they rule out the passage of legislation that contravenes the Constitution.
First composition 1991/1994
Asen Manov - chairman
Aleksandar Arabadzhiev
Ivan Parvanov
Lyuben Kornezov
Milcho Kostov
Milena Zhabinska
Mladen Danailov
Neno Nenovski
Nikolay Pavlov
Pencho Penev
Stanislav Dimitrov
Teodor Chipev
Tsanko Hadzhistoychev
Second composition 1994/1997
Asen Manov - chairman
Aleksandar Arabadzhiev
Dimitar Gochev
Georgi Markov
Ivan Grigorov
Milcho Kostov
Mladen Danailov
Nikolay Pavlov
Pencho Penev
Stanislav Dimitrov
Todor Todorov
Tsanko Hadzhistoychev
Third composition 1997/2000
Jivko Stalev - chairman
Aleksandar Arabadzhiev
Asen Manov
Dimitar Gochev
Georgi Markov
Ivan Grigorov
Margarita Zlatareva
Nedelcho Beronov
Stanislav Dimitrov
Stefanka Stoyanova
Todor Todorov
Tsanko Hadzhistoychev
First composition 2000/2003
Hristo Danov - chairman
Dimitar Gochev
Georgi Markov
Lazar Gruev
Lyudmil Neykov
Margarita Zlatareva
Nedelcho Beronov
Penka Tomcheva
Rumen Yankov
Stefanka Stoyanova
Todor Todorov
Vasil Gotsev
Zhivan Belchev
Second composition 2003/2006
Nedelcho Beronov - chairman
Emilia Drumeva
Evgeni Tanchev
Lazar Gruev
Lyudmil Neykov
Margarita Zlatareva
Maria Pavlova
Rumen Yankov
Stefanka Stoyanova
Vasil Gotsev
Vladislav Slavov
Zhivan Belchev
Third composition 2006/2009
Rumen Yankov - chairman
Blagovest Punev
Dimitar Tokushev
Emilia Drumeva
Evgeni Tanchev
Georgi Petkanov
Krasen Stoychev
Lyudmil Neykov
Plamen Kirov
Snezhana Nacheva
Vasil Gotsev
Vladislav Slavov
First composition 2009/2012
Evgeni Tanchev - chairman
Blagovest Punev
Dimitar Tokushev
Emilia Drumeva
Georgi Petkanov
Krasen Stoychev
Plamen Kirov
Rumen Nenkov
Stefka Stoeva
Tsanka Tsankova
Vanyushka Angusheva
Vladislav Slavov
Second composition 2012/2015
Dimitar Tokushev - chairman
Anastas Anastasov
Blagovest Punev
Boris Velchev
Georgi Angelov
Grozdan Iliev
Keti Markova
Krasen Stoychev
Plamen Kirov
Rumen Nenkov
Stefka Stoeva
Tsanka Tsankova
Third composition 2015/2018
Boris Velchev - chairman
Anastas Anastasov
Georgi Angelov
Grozdan Iliev
Keti Markova
Konstantin Penchev
Mariana Karagiozova-Finkova
Philip Dimitrov
Rumen Nenkov
Stefka Stoeva
Tanya Raykovska
Tsanka Tsankova
First composition 2018/2021
Boris Velchev - chairman
Anastas Anastasov
Atanas Semov
Georgi Angelov
Grozdan Iliev
Konstantin Penchev
Krasimir Vlahov
Mariana Karagiozova-Finkova
Nadezhda Dzhelepova
Pavlina Panova
Philip Dimitrov
Tanya Raykovska