Election of energy regulator head found unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court has found unconstitutional the National Assembly's election of Stanislav Todorov as head of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) back in February. The court decision was adopted with nine out of 12 votes and one dissenting opinion.

Todorov will give a news briefing on the Constitutional Court's decision later on Thursday, the EWRC said in a press release.

On February 9, Parliament elected Continue the Change's nominee Todorov with 128 votes in favour, 13 against, and no abstentions. A month later, the Constitutional Court instituted a constitutional case at the request of MPs of GERB-UDF, who argued that the procedure for the election of the EWRC chair had started when certain legal requirements for the nominees were in force but had ended with different ones, and that Todorov did not meet either.

The legal requirements for the EWRC chair nominees changed  as a result of draft amendments to the Energy Act tabled on January 18 and adopted on January 27, after the deadline for nominations.

Todorov's position before the Constitutional Court was that GERB-UDF's request is entirely ungrounded and should be rejected. The Council of Ministers too defined the opposition parliamentary group's claims as ungrounded and incorrect.