Constitutional Foundations and the Bulgarian Legal Order
What to know
The Constitution of 1991 establishes Bulgaria as a democratic, legal and social state with a parliamentary form of government. Learn the principle of the rule of law (правова държава), the separation of powers among the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the judiciary, and the role of the Constitutional Court. Know the hierarchy of norms: Constitution, ratified international treaties, laws, regulations, and the primacy of EU law within its scope. Study the fundamental rights: equality before the law, inviolability of the person and home, freedom of expression and information, right to defence and fair trial, right to appeal, protection of property, and the limits on rights (only by law and only for a legitimate aim, with proportionality). Learn the Ombudsman, the Supreme Judicial Council, and the independence of judges. Know the constitutional guarantees of local self-government.
Traps
Questions confuse the body that adopts a norm with the body that reviews its constitutionality, or ask whether a right may be restricted by a regulation (it may not; only by statute). Watch for proportionality questions where a restriction is lawful but excessive, and for the difference between the Constitutional Court's abstract review and ordinary courts' incidental review.
Worked example
If a municipal regulation restricts a constitutional right, the correct answer is that it is unlawful because rights may be limited only by law; the regulation is not saved by its legitimate aim.
Rule of thumb
For every rights question ask: is there a legal basis, a legitimate aim, and proportionality?