Milatović early, then doubled his mandate?

In addition to the fact that the judiciary had two sets of the Judicial Council for ten days, additional legal confusion was created because the president of the state Jakov Milatovic By decree, he also proclaimed three members from among the distinguished lawyers, who had already been given a mandate in that body.

Lawyers with whom "Vijesti" spoke state that this is legal nonsense because they had already been appointed by decree. Radoje Korac, Miodrag Ilicković i Drazen Medojević, which is why they should not have been included in the new decree.

The President of the State yesterday, however, assessed that, taking into account the dynamics of changes in the membership of the Judicial Council, which is not tied to the same date and depends on the decisions of several entities, the proclamation of the composition should be interpreted as the proclamation of the composition as a whole, consisting of all ten members. This, he claims, is rightly pointed out in the Commentary on the Constitution of Montenegro, whose author is Mladen Vukcevic.

Milatović announced yesterday that he could not explain when the mandate of the new composition of the Judicial Council, which he prematurely proclaimed by decree, began, but he clarified that he had announced the new convocation and that his act had an exclusively "declarative character."

According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", officials of the Secretariat of the Judicial Council timely informed the Office of the President of the State in a letter that the mandate of the old convocation expires on July 11, 2026, and suggested that they find the act of proclamation from July 2022.

Allegedly, the Secretariat suggested to the presidency over the phone that July 11th would be the end of the previous term.

After the President of the State issued the decree on July 1, he did not inform the Judicial Council about it in a letter. According to unofficial information, "Vijesti" learned about it on July 3, when the decree was published in the Official Gazette.

The previous practice was for the President's Office to notify the Secretariat of the Judicial Council before publication in the Official Gazette.

Milatović: I formally note the changes

Milatović, in his response to “Vijesti” yesterday, said that “in accordance with the cited constitutional provisions, the composition of the Judicial Council is proclaimed by the President of Montenegro by issuing an act that has an exclusively declaratory, not constitutive, character.” Such a formulation, however, does not exist in Amendment VIII of the Constitution.

Milatović further states that the president has no constitutional or legal authority to select, propose or influence the personal composition of the Council, and that his role is exclusively verification.

"With his decree, he formally notes and publicly proclaims the changes in the composition previously made by other, constitutionally authorized entities (the Conference of Judges and the Parliament of Montenegro). The purpose of adopting this act is to announce the current composition of the Judicial Council in one document, depending on the information that the President of Montenegro receives from the Judicial Council and the Parliament of Montenegro. It cannot affect either the beginning or the end of the mandate of the members of the Judicial Council, because these are issues that depend exclusively on the decisions of the Conference of Judges and the Parliament of Montenegro, and which have a constitutive character," Milatović assessed.

He claims that he did not issue the decree on his own initiative, but based on the notification submitted by the Judicial Council on June 25, 2026, on the occasion of the election of new members from among the judges at the Conference of Judges on June 1, 2026. The decree, he believes, represents only a formal statement of the changes that have already occurred, without entering into the question of the duration of the mandate of the members of the Judicial Council.

"Regardless of the fact that the Constitution and the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges do not regulate the issue of when the term of office of the members of the Judicial Council begins, the President does not have the authority to interpret that issue, but only to act in accordance with the information he receives from the entities competent to elect those members," the response states.

Medojevic new president

Opening the constitutive session of the Judicial Council, the President of the Supreme Court Valentina Pavlicic Yesterday she congratulated the new convocation on its election.

"You are aware that on July 1st, the president issued a decree that was published on July 3rd in the Official Gazette 95/26, so I congratulate all members on the election and proclamation of the Judicial Council," she said, explaining at the same time that the mandate of the old assembly ended on July 11th.

Attorney and prominent jurist Dražen Medojević was elected president of the Judicial Council yesterday.

In two rounds of voting, a stalemate was reached because he and the prominent lawyer Miodrag Iličković each had four votes.

The possible problem was resolved by Iličković, who withdrew his candidacy, which resulted in Medojević being elected president of the Judicial Council.

After the announcement, Medojević remarked that his colleague Iličković had preceded him and thanked him for the election and proclaimed Iličković as his deputy.

"Let's continue to make good results and choices," said Medojević.

Professor Radoje Korac said that he will not participate in the vote after the expiration of the previous term of office because his position as president has also ended, but that he will remain a member until the end of September, when his four-year term on the Judicial Council expires.

Medojević: We were in full mandate on July 3rd, communication was probably not adequate

The newly elected President of the Judicial Council, Dražen Medojević, said that he believes that there could be no legal consequences because for about ten days, by decree of the President of the state, two sets of that body practically existed.

"The mandate of the previous convocation expired on July 11th, we are in line with good practice and previous years in how the mandate of the Judicial Council was extended, that is, until when it lasted, and we did the same this time. We had some priority matters that we resolved at that session on July 3rd and we were in full mandate," said Medojević.

He emphasized that, as he said, it is true that there was probably no adequate communication between the President's Office and the Secretariat of the Judicial Council to prevent the decree from being made on July 1st, but to wait until July 11th.

"But I don't think there were any legal consequences. It would have been appropriate if it had been agreed upon, if it had coincided - the termination of the mandate and the decree. But I don't think there were any legal consequences," Medojević emphasized.