Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament's Committee on the Constitution on Thursday began hearings of the first 11 of 63 candidates for Constitutional Court judges, which is the first step before Parliament chooses 10 new judges by a two-thirds majority.
The terms of 10 of the 13 current judges expired in June. Given that the Committee had not issued a public call by then, their terms were extended by six months, until 6 December.
Until then, Parliament must select and vote in 10 new ones in a plenary session in order to avoid a constitutional crisis. Given that Constitutional Court judges are elected by a two-thirds majority (101 MPs), this will require the agreement of the ruling coalition and the opposition.
"The estimated time per candidate is about half an hour, each member of the Committee can ask them up to three questions, and other MPs can put one question to each candidate, considering that there are so many of them," Committee Chairman Ivan Malenica (HDZ) said at the beginning of the session.
A total of 66 candidates, 17 more than eight years ago, responded to the public call issued by the Committee on 14 June, after the parliamentary election and the formation of the new Parliament. Two candidates dropped out, and one was found not to meet the necessary criteria.
Hearings will be held every day from 17 to 25 October, except on Thursday, 23 October when the committee chairman will be otherwise engaged.
Constitutional Court judges are appointed to a term of eight years with a possibility of re-appointment. Eligible are Croatian citizens with a graduate degree in law and at least 15 years' work experience in the legal profession who have distinguished themselves in scientific or professional work or public activity. Those holding a doctoral degree in law need to have at least 12 years' work experience in the legal profession.