27 April 2023
Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva hosted a meeting with ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions in our country from Member States of the European Union, the USA, Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland.
Before the diplomats, Prof. Kovacheva presented the activities of the institution and highlights from the 2022 Annual Report.
The Ombudsman informed the ambassadors that over 74,000 citizens and representatives of organisations received the assistance of the national public defender in 2022, indicating that 25,523 people were heard in the reception rooms in the capital and across the country, and 15,189 citizens filed written complaints.
Prof. Kovacheva informed the diplomats that the institution is a constitutional body with a broad 5-year mandate for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, which has been accredited the highest “A” UN Status in accordance with the Paris Principles since 2019.
During the presentation, the Ombudsman emphasized her priorities and the campaigns initiated to protect vulnerable groups of citizens. She paid special attention to the support of people in their disputes with monopolies and emphasized that it was after her signal that “Toplofikatsia Sofia” EAD refunded to 201,222 households a total of BGN 3.025 million for incorrectly charged VAT amounts. She also underlined the serious problem with the quality of water supply services in the country and with the payment of a fair price for a service actually used, as well as the need to grant the so-called “water aid” to people from vulnerable groups.
Prof. Kovacheva also familiarised the diplomats with the institution's efforts, initiatives and campaigns aimed at adopting the Protection against Domestic Violence Act and expressed hope that the current Parliament will finally adopt the necessary changes so that victims receive more adequate protection and support.
The Ombudsman also commented the urgent need for a new law to support children in conflict with law, as the current one was passed 65 years ago and treats children as criminals, condemning them to a childhood “behind bars”.
Prof. Diana Kovacheva drew particular attention to the need for the adoption of the Bankruptcy of Individuals Act or so-called “personal bankruptcy”, as well as for the regulation of debt collection firms. She stressed that Bulgaria is the only country which still has no legislation related to personal bankruptcy, although we rank first in terms of bad loans in Europe.
The Ombudsman noted that it was high time to adopt a law on collection of receivables under consumer contracts (the so-called Debt Collection Act), with which, in a clear and categorical way, to remove all unscrupulous practices used so far for pressure and coercion to pay, without regard to personal, family and health situation, for debts that have expired by statute of limitations, with methods on the edge of the law and with reference on multiple accumulated debts without being clear how this happened.
The public defender pointed out that following her legislative initiative in 2022, two consecutive National Assemblies unanimously adopted changes related to the problem with expired decisions of Regional Expert Medical Commissions (TELK) issued to people with disabilities, because of which almost 700,000 people were left on the brink of survival.
Before the ambassadors, the Ombudsman also presented the institution's activities in relation to monitoring the implementation of international acts in the field of human rights and presented the findings on the execution of the final judgments of the ECtHR in 2022.