At its sitting on June 25, 2026, the Constitutional Court ruled on Constitutional Case No. 7/2026. The case was initiated at the request of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria, and Judge Galina Toneva served as the reporting judge.
The Court declared unconstitutional the decision requiring the Council of Ministers to submit to the National Assembly a draft law ratifying the accession of the Republic of Bulgaria as a founding member to the Charter of the Peace Council, established at the initiative of the United States and adopted by the National Assembly on March 13, 2026 (published in the State Gazette, No. 28 of 2026).
In its well-established case law, the Court confirms that, in accordance with the principle of separation of powers, Parliament may not, through its decisions, encroach upon the jurisdiction of other state bodies, nor may it interfere without limitation in every sphere of state administration.
The Constitutional Court did not deviate from this principled position in Case No. 7/2026 either It notes that, through the contested decision, the National Assembly exceeds the limits of its own authority by instructing the Council of Ministers and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to carry out activities and adopt acts that do not derive from the Constitution and the Law on International Treaties of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The Court finds that Parliament is engaging in interference, impermissible under the Constitution, with the Council of Ministers’ authority to decide whether and when to initiate a procedure before the National Assembly for the ratification of an international treaty. The legislature’s power to ratify international treaties does not authorize it, through its decisions, to compel the Council of Ministers to submit a bill for ratification.
This finding of unconstitutionality also applies to the portion of the contested decision – point 3 – which instructs the Minister of Foreign Affairs to promulgate the ratification law in the State Gazette within 15 days of its entry into force, since, under the Constitution, only the head of state has the authority to promulgate laws, with the exception of those amending or supplementing the Constitution.
The Constitutional Court notes that the contested decision of the National Assembly is inconsistent with the principle of separation of powers because it violates the constitutional balance between the legislative and executive branches. Furthermore, it also violates legal certainty as a formal element of the principle of the rule of law, since it assigns activities and the issuance of acts to executive branch bodies without a legal basis.
All 12 constitutional judges participated in the sitting.
The Ruling was adopted unanimously.
The full text of the Ruling: https://www.constcourt.bg/bg/act-10366