Armenko: Average duration of proceedings before the US is now 11 months, decision on vaccination soon after public hearing

Constitutional Court President Snežana Armenko claims that the average length of proceedings before that court is now 11 months, and that two years ago, when she took office, she found cases that lasted as long as seven years.

Armenko said in the show "Načisto" on TV Vijesti that she initiated changes to the rules of procedure of the Constitutional Court so that in the future it would be known how which judge voted on initiatives for the review of constitutionality, and which judge is the rapporteur for which case, which will be discussed at tomorrow's session.

She announced that the Constitutional Court should assess the constitutionality of the Interstate Agreement between Montenegro and the United Arab Emirates, which has attracted great public attention, by the end of October.

Armenko said that due to the seriousness of the topic and all the necessary procedures, the Constitutional Court could not have organized a public hearing earlier on the issue of mandatory vaccination and the ban on attending preschool institutions for unvaccinated children.

She pointed out that the Constitutional Court recognized this initiative as an important social issue.

"This is one of the cases where the complexity and difficulty of our work is shown, when we have to balance two rights. You have the right of the population and children to public health, and on the other hand, the right of parents. In this case, the Constitutional Court will assess what measures the state has taken previously and whether the measures taken were sufficient and whether the legal solution that has now been adopted, whether the same measure, or the same purpose, could have been achieved with another measure," said the President of the Constitutional Court.

She announced that a decision would be made shortly after the conclusion of the public hearing.

"There are two options, two ways of making decisions. Or we can not accept the initiative, if we find that the law is in accordance with the Constitution. On the other hand, we have the option to issue a decision to initiate proceedings. When a decision to initiate proceedings is issued, we have the option requested by the initiative, a temporary measure to suspend that article of the law, or to allow children to enroll in kindergarten," said Armenko.