Вид на акта
искане
Дата
01-01-1970 г.
Към дело
/

DECISION No 1 OF FEBRUARY 4, 2003 ON CC No 1/2003

The President of the Republic approached the Constitutional Court, which gave a binding interpretation of Art. 84 §11 in relation to Art. 85 para 1 subpara 1 of the Constitution. It is about the correlation between two organic powers of the National Assembly: 1. to approve the deployment and use of Bulgarian armed forces outside the country’s borders and the deployment of foreign troops on the territory of the country or their crossing of that territory; and 2. to ratify by a law all international instruments which are of political or military nature interpreted in the context of the long-term or forthcoming military and political cooperation of the Republic of Bulgaria with other states and international organizations.
The country’s modern foreign policy priorities lead to joining organizations of military and political nature through international treaties that call for mutual obligations of military assistance, military defense and military cooperation. The National Assembly’s ratification is the approval of such treaties. On promulgation and entry into force, such treaties become part of the domestic legislation of the state as per Art. 5 para 4 of the Constitution and supercede any domestic legislation stipulating otherwise. It was on this prevalence of obligations taken under an international treaty that has become part of the domestic legislation concerning a decision by the National Assembly under Art. 84 §11 of the Constitution which decision does not have normative nature that the Constitutional Court drew its conclusions after the comparison of the National Assembly’s two organic powers: those in Art. 84 §11 and those in Art. 85 para 1 subpara 1.
1. The Constitutional Court ruled as follows:
A) The troops of a political or military alliance, of states that are members of this alliance or of allied states under an international treaty of military or political nature ratified, promulgated and effective in the Republic of Bulgaria are not foreign troops in the meaning of Art. 84 §11 of the Constitution if their transportation across the country or deployment in the country is called by alliance-related obligations.
B) In this hypothesis it is unnecessary for Parliament to take a decision just as it is unnecessary to take a decision concerning the deployment and use of Bulgarian troops outside the country when Bulgaria is to meet alliance-related obligations under an international treaty of political or military nature that has been ratified, promulgated and become effective in Bulgaria. This is so as the principle of Pacta sunt servanda is one of the underlying principles of modern international law.
Generally speaking the permission procedure that Art. 84 §11 of the Constitution provides for will apply if and when the matter is not dealt with by an international treaty that Art. 85 para 1 subpara 1 refers to and that has been ratified, promulgated and become effective in the Republic of Bulgaria.
Apart from the legal force of the provisions of the international treaty as a justification for not applying the permission procedure in Art. 84 §11 of the Constitution, the justices cited the fact that generally the collective defense and security treaties of military-political nature contain long-term provisions concerning the deployment or transportation of the allied country’s troops in or across the foreign state.
2. Further the decision assumes that there is no need to have the National Assembly’s permission on each specific case covered by the hypotheses of Art. 84 §11 of the Constitution providing a separate law contains thorough definitions of the objectives, terms and conditions under which Bulgaria is to meet obligations that have been assumed under an international treaty that has been ratified, promulgated and become effective and that provides for the deployment of Bulgarian troops outside the country and the transportation and deployment of allied troops on the territory of the country.