Zagreb - The Parliament's Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System on Thursday determined 63 valid applications for the posts of ten Constitutional Court judges whose terms expired in June, scheduling public hearings of the candidates for 17-25 October.
The public call for applications was published on 14 June, and 66 candidates applied but two withdrew their applications while one application was invalid due to an insufficient number of years of service.
Sixty-three candidates will thus be interviewed by the parliamentary committee in the period from 17 to 25 October.
Constitutional Court judges are appointed at a plenary session of the parliament, with MPs voting on each proposed candidate individually, and their appointment requires a two-thirds majority or the support of 101 deputies.
The ten new Constitutional Court judges are to be appointed by early December, and by that time the parliamentary majority and the Opposition are expected to hold consultations and reach a consensus on the appointments. The terms of ten Constitutional Court judges expired on 7 June but since the competent parliamentary committee had not invited applications by that date, their terms were extended for another six months.
The chair of the Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System, Ivan Malenica, said that so far no consultations had been held, adding that one would wait for interviews with the candidates to be completed, after which consultations would be held during November.
He expressed confidence that "reason will prevail on both sides" so the new judges could be appointed by the set deadline.
A person eligible to be elected as a constitutional judge must be a Croatian citizen, a law graduate with at least 15 years of professional experience who has distinguished themselves through scientific work or public service, or a Doctor of Law who, in addition to fulfilling other conditions, has at least 12 years of experience in the legal profession.