The government has sent a package of six judicial laws to parliamentary procedure from its meeting on Thursday, which strengthens the independence of the judiciary and reorganizes the network of judicial bodies, with one of the main elements being the merger of misdemeanor courts with municipal courts, except in Zagreb due to its size.
The amendments to the Law on Courts, the Law on the State Judicial Council, the Law on the State Attorney’s Office, the Law on the State Attorney’s Council, the Law on the Areas and Seats of Courts, and the Law on the Areas and Seats of State Attorney’s Offices have been sent to Parliament, with the aim of strengthening the independence of the judiciary and objectivity in the appointment of officials, as well as increasing the quality of the application of EU regulations and the standards of the European Court of Human Rights.
>>>Proposal of the Law on Courts and DSV: A Bridge for Greater Powers, Salaries Linked to Evaluation and Tenure
Mini Judicial Reform
This is a mini judicial reform, stated Prime Minister Andrej Plenković at the beginning of the session, and Minister of Justice Dražen Bošnjaković emphasized in the explanation of the entire package that it aims to continue the positive trends in the judiciary, namely the reduction of unresolved cases.
– We believe that these measures will reflect positively and that these trends will be even better, he assessed.
Regarding the merger of courts, he explained that misdemeanor courts are no longer so burdened and that judges are not sufficiently utilized, so it is proposed to merge misdemeanor courts with municipal courts, where misdemeanor departments will still exist, but judges who do not have enough cases will be assigned to other cases.
>>>Petrov: Proposal for Judicial Reform – A PR Document as if Prepared by Edvard Škaroruki
– In this way, we will get a network of courts that much better meets our needs. They will be able to be faster and of higher quality, says Bošnjaković.
Instead of 24 municipal and 22 misdemeanor courts, there will now be 34 courts, and at the same time, municipal courts will return to certain areas but enlarged (with added misdemeanor courts), for example in Vinkovci, Đakovo, Kutina, Sesvete, Pazin… Only in Zagreb will the existing municipal court remain.
Better Accessibility for Citizens
The consequence of the reform will be better accessibility of judicial bodies to citizens, emphasized Bošnjaković, as the role of permanent offices outside the court seats is strengthened, where judges do not come to adjudicate but citizens must come to the center, which creates costs for them.
It is now proposed that all procedural actions (hearings) be conducted within the framework of permanent offices outside the courts, so judges will go to these permanent offices for several days.
Due to dissatisfaction with the way judges are appointed, namely the slowness (the process can take up to two years, and during that time the court has no judge and cases are not resolved), as well as due to non-compliance with the scoring scale (a judge is chosen from the 70th place, rather than someone among the top five), amendments to the Law on DSV stipulate that the DSV is obliged to appoint a judge within six months of the public call, taking into account, among other things, the points from the ranking list.
>>>Bošnjaković to Savudrija Fishermen: We Will Appeal the Fines by Monday
The reform also strengthens the independence of the judiciary, emphasizes Bošnjaković, as the provision that the minister gives an opinion in the process of appointing the presidents of courts is abolished, and he will no longer be able, as before, to appoint an acting president of the court if the president has not been elected somewhere, but the decision on this will be made by the DSV.
Regulations regarding the property declarations of judges are also changing so that they will be available to the public, as they are available for all officials.
Changes in the Election of the President of the Supreme Court
The provisions for the election of the President of the Supreme Court are also changing so that the DSV announces a public call six months before the expiration of his term, candidacies are submitted to the Office of the President of the Republic, which submits all these candidacies for opinion to the Parliamentary Justice Committee and the general session of the Supreme Court.
– After the Office of the President receives the opinion, the President of the Republic proposes a candidate to Parliament, explains Bošnjaković.
>>>Bankruptcy Opened Against Fimi Media, ‘A Synonym for Political Corruption in Croatia’
The selection of the Chief State Attorney is also specified – the public call is announced by the State Attorney’s Council, which sends all materials to the government, and the government, as before, proposes to Parliament the appointment of the Chief State Attorney.
With this judicial package, we want to create conditions for a stronger and better functioning judiciary and the continuation of positive trends, concluded Bošnjaković.
The government also made a decision to dissolve the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Muć as it did not accept the budget proposed by the mayor, nor did it make a decision on temporary financing.
