Zagreb - The Sabor Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System on Tuesday approved a list of candidates for three Constitutional Court judges. Seventeen candidates applied for the posts, with one application deemed ineligible.
After the previous public call failed due to political disputes between the ruling majority and the left-wing opposition, the Committee on the Constitution established a list of 16 candidates who will be heard next week, after which inter-party consultations will follow, as a two-thirds parliamentary majority is required for their election.
Among the applicants in the new public call were three candidates who were previously discussed by Parliament. The total number of candidates is higher than in the previous attempt, when 13 applications were considered. The applicants are: Nevena Aljinović, Branka Genzić Horvat, Ana Horvat Vuković, Davorin Ivanjek, Jadranko Jug, Mirko Klarić, Željko Matijašec, Mila Mikecin Mišetić, Oliver Mittermayer, Željko Pajalić, Tunjica Petrašević, Branka Rešetar, Goran Selanec, Ljiljana Stipišić, Mladen Sučević and Mario Vinković.
A routine procedural decision on proposing and establishing the candidate list was preceded by a brief but heated political debate. MP Sandra Benčić (We Can!), who is not a member of the Committee, attended the session to protest the item on Constitutional Court judges being added to the agenda at short notice.
“Was it necessary to schedule such an important item on submitted candidacies yesterday afternoon for discussion at 9 a.m. today? Why the rush?” she asked.
Committee Chair Ivan Malenica (HDZ) responded by asking what the problem was, to which Benčić said that the selection of Constitutional Court judges had already proven to be difficult to reach agreement on. Now, she added, the ruling majority was again “ambushing” the opposition instead of engaging in dialogue.
Malenica explained that the regular session had been scheduled on Friday with a single agenda item, and that since all candidacies had been submitted by Monday, there was no reason not to add the item on Constitutional Court judges to the agenda.
Benčić proposed that the item be placed on the agenda of a separate session, arguing that it could easily have been held on Wednesday.
She also stated that if the goal was to elect the new Constitutional Court judges, the process should be conducted based on trust, dialogue and agreement.
Malenica responded that it was purely a technical matter of establishing the candidate list so that interviews could begin next week, and the majority on the committee rejected Benčić’s proposal.
MP Arsen Bauk (SDP) also described the inclusion of the item as a “unilateral decision by the chair, made without agreement, unusually quickly, and contrary to the Rules of Procedure,” noting that MPs are supposed to receive materials three days in advance.
Malenica replied that the item had been added to the agenda in agreement with committee vice-chair Saša Đujić (SDP), who is also the opposition’s chief negotiator on Constitutional Court judges.
The Constitutional Court has been operating with an incomplete composition, with ten judges, since 12 April.