The Venice Commission unequivocally concluded in its opinion that the Constitutional Court failed to fulfill its constitutional duty by failing to establish a condition for the termination of the mandate of Judge Dragana Đuranović, said the head of the Europe Now parliamentary group, Vasilije Čarapić.
"The court did not issue a formal, reasoned decision, but rather decided on the key issue without a clear conclusion, omitting any legally binding interpretation of which law applies to determine the retirement age of its judges. In the opinion of the Constitutional Court, this directly violates the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, which the Constitutional Court is obliged to apply. By such a procedure, which the Venice Commission assessed as inconsistent with the principles of legal certainty and transparency, the Constitutional Court directly contributed to legal uncertainty that could have had far-reaching consequences," Čarapić wrote on Iks.
He says that the Assembly, in the absence of fulfilling the constitutional duty that the Constitutional Court had, was obliged to act to protect the constitutional order.
"This was done by the fact that, based on a letter from the President of the Constitutional Court, which contained information on the age and seniority of the judges and unequivocally indicated that the conditions for the termination of their mandate had been met, the Parliament compensated for the failure of the Constitutional Court in terms of its constitutional duty, without taking over the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court."
In this specific case, says Čarapić, it was the only way to "overcome the abuse, because the regular procedure could not be followed."
"That all of this is true is also confirmed by a key part of the VK's opinion, which are the recommendations that go towards establishing a simplified procedure for informing the Parliament about meeting the conditions for an old-age pension that would not be subject to abuse; expanding the provisions relating to exemption from decision-making in cases concerning the personal rights of judges; establishing a special norm on the retirement age of judges of the Constitutional Court (which is a proposal by the PES from April last year). None of the recommendations relate to the exercise of the powers of the Parliament, but rather propose amendments to the law in order to eliminate the scope for abuses carried out by the judges of the Constitutional Court themselves," the MP said.
Bonus video:
