The Parliamentary Constitutional Committee could propose two new Constitutional Court judges to parliament at its session next week, Televizija Vijesti has learned.
Although the deputies have not yet reached a final agreement, according to information from Television Vijesti, the main favorites for the new judges are Assistant Ombudsman Mirjana Radović and Judge of the Podgorica High Court Jovan Jovanović.
The authorities claim that this work will be completed in the next ten days, before the arrival of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to visit Montenegro.
Ursula von der Leyen will arrive in our country in mid-October. This means that the two missing Constitutional Court judges would have to be elected by MPs in just ten days - first by supporting their selection in the Constitutional Committee, and then by giving the final green light in the plenary session.
That all of this is possible in such a short period of time, stated Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević on Boje jutra on Vijesti Television.
"Given that on October 8th, 9th or 10th, I don't know the agenda in the Parliament now, but even before President von der Leyen arrives, through the appointment point, two of the three judges of the Constitutional Court will be voted in. I think this is a good indicator that the Constitutional Court will not be blocked," said Gorčević.
However, according to information from Television Vijesti, the parliamentary majority still does not have a definitive position on which two candidates should be elected as judges of the Constitutional Court. Of the 13 candidates who applied for the competition, Deputy Ombudsman Mirjana Radović and Judge of the High Court in Podgorica Jovan Jovanović have the best chances so far, and efforts are being made to find a qualified majority for them.
Their election will require at least a few hands from the opposition, as 54 votes are required in the first round and 49 in the second round. The European Union is persistently urging Montenegro to find common ground on this issue as soon as possible.
"First of all, the election of judges to the Constitutional Court must take place. Without a functional Constitutional Court, there is no EU accession," said Thomas Weiz, chairman of the European Parliament delegation to the European Union (EU)-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, on 20 September.
The Constitutional Court has been operating with a truncated composition for months, currently with four out of seven judges. In mid-September, the parliamentary majority sabotaged the holding of a session of the Assembly that was supposed to decide on the proposal of the head of state Jakov Milatović for lawyer Mirjana Vučinić to be a judge of the Constitutional Court.
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