Citizens can not appeal the cost of electricity, water and heating

 

The judges, Georgi Angelov and Philip Dimitrov, signed the decision with an unanimous opinion

July 3, 2018,

 

Citizens can not appeal the cost of electricity, water and heating

Citizens can not attack the prices of electricity, heating and water by court order, the Constitutional Court decided, dismissing the request of Ombudsman Maya Manolova to declare the unconstitutionality of Art. 36a, para. 2 of the Energy Act.

 

According to Manolova, this provision is also inconsistent with the European Directive 2009-72-EC, according to which EU Member States must introduce mechanisms at national level to ensure that each party concerned has the possibility to appeal such decisions to an independent body.

 

According to the Ombudsman, as a result of the adopted legislative decision, citizens are deprived of the right to protection when their rights and legitimate interests are violated or threatened, as required by Art. 56 of the Constitution.

 

Although Art. 13 para. 9 of the EA to provide for an opportunity to appeal the lawfulness of the acts of the CESR, the provision of Art. 36a, para. 2 of the Energy Act, which announces the decisions to confirm prices for electricity, natural gas and water supply to citizens for individual administrative acts, essentially limits this possibility, "the Ombudsman writes in his request to the court.

 

The public defender states that this violates the principle of the rule of law, Art. 4, para. 1 of the Constitution, as well as the possibility for the citizens to appeal against all administrative acts affecting them. 120, para. 2 of the Basic Law.

 

"The qualification" individual administrative act "does not directly affect the rights and freedoms of the citizens, and in particular those under Articles 56 and 120 of the Constitution, respectively that from this point of view there is no contradiction with the provision of Article 4 of the Constitution The subject of the case is the request of the Ombudsman who, under Article 150, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, may request the establishment of the unconstitutionality of a law only in case of violation of citizens' rights and freedoms. the case, the Constitutional Court does not find other grounds to fall within the scope of Article 150, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, which is why the Ombudsman's request should be rejected ", the Constitutional Judges Boris Velchev - Chairman, members: Tsanka Tsankova, Stefka Stoeva, Rumen Nenkov, Kety Markova, Georgi Angelov, Anastas Anastasov, Grozdan Iliev, Mariana Karagiozova-Finkova, Konstantin Penchev, Philip Dimitrov, Tanya Raykovska

 

The decision was signed with disagreement by the judges Georgi Angelov and Philip Dimitrov.