"In Bulgaria, years of slow and painstaking work to improve the efficiency and independence of the judicial and prosecutorial systems proved successful in 2023":
This is claimed in the annual report on countries in transition of the American foundation "Freedom House". The report covers 29 Central and Eastern European countries and claims the region has experienced new democratic setbacks, following the ongoing war in Ukraine and Azerbaijan's return to control of Nagorno-Karabakh. These events critically undermined the basic assumption of the framers of the nations in transition that all countries in the region were progressing toward the same end point—peaceful, democratic consolidation. Instead, many of them move or are forced to move in the opposite direction.
Many democracies in the region have heeded the geopolitical call to strengthen their domestic institutions. Bulgaria is among the 5 countries that achieved improvements in their democracy rating for events in 2023. Our country is defined as a semi-consolidated democracy.
“In Slovenia and Lithuania, medium- and long-term improvements in funding models and related legislation have strengthened media independence. The new Slovenian government undertook such efforts as part of its campaign to reverse the institutional damage accumulated under populist former prime minister Janez Janša. In Lithuania, progress was more measurable, but nonetheless significant for journalists and media organizations last year. In Romania and Bulgaria, years of slow and painstaking work to improve the efficiency and independence of the judicial and prosecutorial systems paid off in 2023: Bulgaria's ruling coalition removed the long-time controversial chief prosecutor in due course of law, and the Romanian government overhauled its legal framework, which the European Commission assessed as a "complete overhaul", says the Freedom House report.
The foundation argues that the achievements of Europe's consolidated democracies are admirable, but setting an example of democratic resilience at home is not enough to protect the region as a whole in the current geopolitical moment when autocracies are becoming increasingly violent and repressive. and hybrid regimes falter in the face of conflicting pressures. To ensure lasting freedom and security for their own people, these countries must look outward and strengthen solidarity with each other and with their neighbors on the front lines of the struggle against the autocratic regional order. /BGNES
