DECISION No 13 OF SEPTEMBER 30, 1999 ON CC No 9/99
The Constitutional Court decision dismissed the challenge by 54 Members of the 38th National Assembly of the constitutionality of Decree 274 of July 28, 1998 by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria to release Alexander Draganov Dimitrov as Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria in the Republic of Poland.
Appointment and dismissal of heads of diplomatic missions are subject to discretion by the Council of Ministers and by the President. This derives from the ambassador’s function as a representative of the Republic of Bulgaria in a foreign country and in relations with that country’s top-level institutions. This function presupposes to judge an ambassador on his or her merits and confidence in him or her. The judgement lies within the exclusive competence of the President and of the Council of Ministers and is not subject to Constitution control.
Art. 102 of the Constitution that codifies the procedure and mode of issuing presidential decrees in fulfillment of presidential powers, contains no requirement to give out motives as indispensable preconditions for the validity of the acts of the Head of State.
If the Constitution sets no term of office for a position, then the legal relations arising from presidential decrees are not linked to a fixed term. A person appointed by a decree can at any time be dismissed by the President on his discretion as long as the President abides by the Constitution requirement of sending a proposition to the Council of Ministers and having the Prime Minister countersign the decree.
