PM: President can have his opinion but Const. Court rules on constitutionality

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday evening that the procedure for the election of the Supreme Court president was transparent, adding that the head of state could have his own opinion but that the Constitutional Court was the one to decide if something was in line with the Constitution.

The procedure for the election of the Supreme Court president is transparent, it enables more candidates to apply for the post and the court president is elected by the parliament, Plenković told the press after a meeting of his HDZ party's Presidency, National Council and the HDZ parliamentary group.

There is no trading or insistence on this or that candidate when it comes to the parliamentary majority, the PM said, adding that the system adopted after the Supreme Court president was last elected in 2017 described the procedure in detail, was useful and better than the one in force until then.

The parliament decides on the Supreme Court president and the candidates must present their programmes, said Plenković.

"The President can have an opinion on any matter but the body that decides if something is in line with the Constitution is the Constitutional Court. I don't see why compliance with the law is a problem," he said.

"This is evidently a semi-conflict. We did not initiate it nor is there any need for it. We know the procedure, anyone wishing to be recommended by the President of the Republic could have expressed their interest, including Professor Đurđević. I don't know why she didn't," he said.

"I know her, I have the impression that she has been emboldened enough to say that she will take this procedural path towards her candidacy," the PM said, adding that they had learned about Milanović's choice from Radimir Čačić, a member of the parliamentary majority and head of Varaždin County. 

He went on to say that President Milanović was trying to portray himself as a reformer of the Supreme Court and the government as a proponent of the status quo, which, he said, was not true.

Plenković recalled the debate on the current Law on Courts, during which a former justice minister, former MP and now head of the Office of the President, Orsat Miljenić, praised the procedure laid down at the time.

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