Candidate for judge of the Constitutional Court (CC) Jovan Kojičić withdrew his application for the competition announced by the President of the Republic of Serbia, Jakov Milatović, leaving Alija Beganović the only one who applied for both.
This was stated at today's session of the Constitutional Committee, which discussed the adoption of the Report on the Work of the Constitutional Committee for 2024 and current issues. The session was not attended by opposition MPs.
Chairwoman Jelena Božović (New Serbian Democracy) recalled that in the previous year she succeeded her party colleague Simonda Kordić in that position, who in the meantime had become a minister.
"During 2024, the Committee held 11 sessions with six continuations for a total duration of 19 hours, during which 25 agenda items were discussed. The duration of the sessions, in days, was 17 days. At the fourth session held on February 1, 2024, the Constitutional Committee held a hearing, discussions between the President of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, Milorad Gogić, and the Minister of Justice, ANDrej Milović, regarding the initiative for amendments to the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees that Gogić submitted to this committee. I would like to highlight what dates back to the end of last year, and which is still relevant today, and that is the public call that this committee announced on December 23, 2024 for two judges of the Constitutional Court (CS) and which we are acting on today," she reminded.
The report was adopted by the votes of all deputies present.
When it comes to current issues, she pointed out that the committee received a response to the act they sent to the President of the Republic, Jakov Milatović, to submit a list of registered candidates for the elections of one judge of the Constitutional Court at his invitation, with evidence of the time of registration.
The candidates for the call issued by the head of state are: Danilo Ćupić, Duško Jovović, Mirjana Vučinić, Dejan Vukšić, Nataša Radonjić, Nikola Golubović, Kojičić, Beganović and Đorđević.
"Having in mind the provision of Article 9, paragraph 4 of the Law on the Constitutional Court, which stipulates that the same person cannot apply for public calls from both proposers, as well as the list of names of the applied candidates that was submitted to us by the Constitutional Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro, we inform you about the time of application of Jovan Kojičić, Alija Beganović and Nenad Đorđević and we are submitting evidence of the same in the attachment. Namely, candidate Nenad Đorđević submitted the application on 15.01.2025, while candidate Jovan Kojičić submitted the application on 17.01.2025. The candidacy of candidate Alije Beganović was delivered by post on 23.01.2025. We also inform you that candidate Nenad Đorđević informed the President of Montenegro on 17.02. that he was withdrawing his candidacy for judge of the Constitutional Court," Božović read the response from Milatović's office and added that, in the meantime, they have information that Kojičić also withdrew his candidacy from the head of the state.
She pointed out that the law does not clearly define what happens when candidates apply to both calls, but that she believes that the worst solution would be for both the board and Milatović to reject them, and that her proposal is for them to remain in the competition they applied to first.
Europe Now Movement (PES) MP Darko Dragović said that "we should not make decisions hastily," and that this is an ongoing process.
"We are now waiting for the hearing of all candidates, after that vote: In parallel with that, the president of the state will also carry out his procedure in relation to the competition where he is the proposer. Given that nothing is changing in the part of the report of the commission formed by this Constitutional Committee, the report of that commission should be accepted, given that at this moment there is a position of this committee that all those who submitted candidacies according to the public call of the Parliament should proceed to the further procedure," he said.
He added that until the decision is made, the situation can be clarified, and whether Beganović will be a candidate at the invitation of the Assembly, the president, or excluded.
Božović pointed out that the commission Dragović was part of had already checked whether the candidacies were in accordance with the law, and that the board had already adopted the list, and that two candidates had withdrawn their applications to Milatović, and one had first applied at the invitation of the board, and only then to the president, all three remaining on the list.
She added that the decisions of the Constitutional Committee that have been made will not be changed and cannot be a matter of political agreements, and that she is specifically referring to "conditioning the opposition".
"After the ban on entering parliament and acting in parliament expires, they can freely return to parliament if they wish, and as for the decisions of this committee, they will not be the subject of any political negotiations, agreements, etc. I would like to remind you that this committee has not adopted any legal act, as the opposition is demanding that this committee withdraw. It is a simple statement that Judge Đuranović has retired - that is something that is a fact, that is something that is an unchangeable situation," they said.
Božović recalled that Đuranović tried to protect her rights by filing lawsuits against institutions, but that she has so far been rejected by the protector of property relations and certain courts.
"He has the right to seek to protect his rights in the coming period, but the decisions of this committee are unchanged and we will not allow anyone to block the work of this parliament and condition the parliamentary majority on what are our most important goals, which is Montenegro's European path and the establishment of a legal, secure and stable state in which no one will be above the law, not even the judges of the Supreme Court who, at some points, violated their jurisdiction," she stressed.
She proposed that, after the list was established, they invite Alija Beganović and Marko Blagojević to the next session for questioning in alphabetical order.
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