The proposed amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance (PIO) are another attempt at unprecedented normative legal gymnastics with the aim of extending the mandate of certain judges of the Constitutional Court, said lawyer and former Minister of Justice Marko Kovač.
"I have nothing against starting a discussion on the age limit necessary for obtaining the conditions for the retirement of judges, and this is solved in a systematic way for all judges in the legal system, but not that, before the end of the mandate of certain individuals, such changes call into question the uniqueness legal order and equality of citizens before the Constitution and the law", said Kovač in response to a question from "Vijesti" regarding how he comments on the changes to the Law on PIO.
The amendments to the law were submitted to the Parliament yesterday by PES MPs Vasilije Čarapić and Darko Dragović, after the Legislative Committee determined on Tuesday that the amendments to the Law on the Constitutional Court, which also provides for moving the limit for the retirement of judges of that court, are not in accordance with the Constitution and legal system.
In the amendments to the Law on PIO, it was proposed to add Article 197nj after Article 197n, which reads: "With the exception of Article 17 of this law, an insured person who performs the duties of a judge of the Constitutional Court, acquires the right to an old-age pension if he has reached the age of 67 and has 15 years of insurance experience." .
Article 17 of the Law on PIO stipulates that the insured acquires the right to an old-age pension when he reaches the age of 65 and has at least 15 years of insurance experience.
Kovač also points out that the amendment of the Law benefits the judges who would eventually decide on the constitutionality of the amendment itself, which implies the question of their objectivity.
"All this confirms that it is about serious political pressure on the legal system, which is contrary to the official proclamation about the rule of law and meritocracy. With this approach, we will very soon have new and similar demands from other professions, so the question arises of the state's strategy and relations in future similar situations", Kovač warned.
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Lawyers with whom "Vijesti" spoke unofficially agree with Kovač that this is an attempt to "rescue" three judges of the Constitutional Court, who are eligible for retirement this year under the PIO Act, but they remind the practice that until now judges have of retirement called for the Labor Law, which caused sharp polemics in the public.
The Constitutional Court also referred to the Labor Law when, at the end of last year, it informed the Assembly that the president of that court, Milorad Gogić, was eligible for retirement on May 27. In the letter, the court refers to Article 164 of the Labor Law, which stipulates that the employment relationship ends by force of law when the employee reaches the age of 66 and has at least 15 years of insurance experience.
According to the amendments to the Law on PIO, which came into force in January of this year, at the end of May, judge Budimir Šćepanović also becomes eligible for retirement because he turns 65 then, and judge Dragana Đuranović in December.
The initiative to raise the retirement age for judges of the Constitutional Court came from the Minister of Justice Andrej Milović, who at the beginning of February, in the company of Gogić and Šćepanović, said at a session of the Constitutional Committee that "it is not good for them to retire at 65 because it is mature lawyers, ready to protect the constitutionality of a state".
Milović's proposal was sharply criticized by the opposition GP URA, stating that the plan was to extend the mandate of judges "who received apartments from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS)".
Lawyers believe that moving the limit for retirement by a year or two is not an attempt to transfer the standards of developed countries, because it would be moved to 70, 75 or for life (as in the USA), but it is only "buying time for three judges". That it is an "ad hominem" law, as they say, is best demonstrated by the fact that the PIO Act and the retirement age were changed on January 1.
They also warn that the proposed norm is discriminatory because judges of the Constitutional Court are given greater rights compared to other insured persons.
After the proposed amendment to the Law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro did not get the green light at the Legislative Committee, PES deputy Darko Dragović submitted an amendment on Tuesday.
Amendments to the Law stipulate that a judge of the Constitutional Court "ceases his office" when he reaches "67 years of age and 40 years of service".
The amendment states that a judge of the Constitutional Court "acquires the conditions for exercising the right to an old-age pension" when he reaches the age of 67 "and at least 15 years of insurance experience".
In the explanation of the amendment, Dragović stated that considering that the conditions under which a judge of the Constitutional Court "terminates his office" are exclusively prescribed by the Constitution, this issue cannot be regulated by amending the legal regulations.
The DPS and the Democrats were against the proposal to amend the Law on the Constitutional Court at the session of the Legislative Committee, but in the end no one voted for it (three deputies of the DPS were against, five abstained, while one deputy did not express his opinion).
The proposal was submitted by majority MPs Slaven Radunović (NSD), Vladislav Bojović (DNP), Nikola Camaj (Albanian Forum), Bogdan Božović (SNP) and Vasilije Čarapić (PES).
Democrats are unlikely to support the amendment either.
"We will make a decision regarding the proposed legal solution and the submitted amendments to the proposed law at the session of the Club of Deputies during the discussion, but I can already say with great certainty that we will reject the proposed law and amendments," Boris Bogdanović, head of the Democrats' Parliamentary Club, told "Vijesti" .
Due to pensions, the Constitutional Court was in the center of public attention in October last year, when it repealed the article of the PIO Act, which states that the right to an old-age pension is acquired when the insured man turns 66 and the woman turns 64, and at least 15 years of insurance experience, so the only condition for obtaining a pension remained a full 40 years of insurance service.
Commenting on this decision, the former judge of the Constitutional Court, Miodrag Iličković, said that "the Constitutional Court of Montenegro started the unblocking process by terminating the work of a number of judges and extending the mandate of those approaching retirement".
However, at the end of the year, the Assembly adopted amendments to the Law on PIO, which provide that the insured acquires the right to an old-age pension when he reaches the age of 65 and has at least 15 years of insurance experience.
Interviews with candidates have not yet been scheduled
On March 5, the Constitutional Committee determined the list of candidates who applied to be a judge of the Constitutional Court who will fill Gogić's position, but interviews with the candidates have not yet been scheduled. Applications were submitted by Alija Beganović, Zoran Vukićević, Nerma Dobardžić, Muhamed Đokaj, Jovan Kojičić and Sanja Maslenjak. The Assembly said last week that the applications of all candidates are with the commission, which has the task of determining whether the applications are timely and complete. Darko Dragović (PES), Bogdan Božović (SNP) and Sonja Milatović (DPS) are in the commission that should evaluate the applications.
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