It was necessary to see whether there was a reason for the disqualification of certain judges of the Constitutional Court when making the decision not to inform the Parliament about Judge Dragana Đuranović's attainment of the conditions for retirement.
This was stated at the session of the Constitutional Committee by candidate for judge of the Constitutional Court Jovan Jovanović, responding to a question from the president of that body, Jelena Božović (New Serbian Democracy).
Today, the Committee heard two more candidates who responded to the advertisement for two judges of the Constitutional Court - Jovanović and Nerma Dobardžić.
Božović asked both candidates for their opinions on the fact that the judges of the Constitutional Court took the position "not to inform the Parliament that Đuranović has met the conditions for retirement, even though Article 154 of the Constitution states that the court "determines", not votes and does not declare".
On June 27 last year, the Constitutional Court, by a majority vote (four to two), decided that the conditions for notifying the proposer of the fulfillment of the conditions for obtaining a judge's old-age pension were not met. The reason for this, as they stated in a statement at the time, was "the majority position on the application of the Labor Law, and not the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance (PIO)". According to the Constitution, Constitutional Court judges are elected by the Parliament (five) and the President of the State (two).
"It should have been seen whether there was a reason to disqualify certain judges, whether a disqualification procedure had been initiated, because in that case they would have had a completely different legal situation," said Jovanović, who did not want to express his position on the entire situation with Đuranović because "the case is still active."
Dobardžić did not want to express her position either, because, as she said, she is engaged as an independent expert in a Council of Europe body, and the Venice Commission (which is also a Council of Europe body) should issue an opinion on the termination of Đuranović's office.
At the end of December, based on the conclusion of the Constitutional Committee, the Parliament determined the termination of the office of Judge Dragana Đuranović, due to her attaining the conditions for retirement in accordance with the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance.
The opposition and part of the professional public find it objectionable that the Constitutional Committee reached its conclusions without informing the proposers about whether the conditions for obtaining a judge's retirement pension have been met.
Because of this, the opposition blocked the sessions of the Parliament for a while, and the parliamentary crisis was recently resolved by the signing of an agreement between some opposition parties and Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, who, accordingly, is to submit a request for an opinion to the Venice Commission today.
Bonus video:
