Supreme Court Without a Leader: DSV Awaits Notification from Pantovčak

Although President of the Republic Zoran Milanović publicly stated on August 14 that he would not propose a candidate for the President of the Supreme Court, it is still unknown whether and when the State Judicial Council (DSV) will issue a new public call. Namely, in response to our inquiry, the State Judicial Council stated that “they have not received any official notification from the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia” and did not wish to specify whether or when they would announce a new call.

Let us recall that only Aleksandra Maganić, a full professor at the Department of Civil Procedure Law at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, responded to the repeated call from July. Three applications were received for the first public call in April, and the Croatian Parliament rejected the President’s proposal in June to appoint Sandra Artuković Kunšt as the President of the Supreme Court. Prior to that, the candidate did not receive support from the General Assembly of the Supreme Court or the Parliamentary Justice Committee.

The position of the President of the Supreme Court has been vacant since March of this year, following the death of the then-President Radovan Dobronić. Until a new president is elected, the judicial administration is managed by Gordana Jalšovečki. According to the applicable procedure, the DSV issues a public call, the President of the Republic proposes a candidate, and the Parliament appoints. The opinions of the General Assembly of the Supreme Court and the Parliamentary Justice Committee are not binding, but in practice, they carry political and professional weight.

The selection of a new president remains blocked for now. It is unclear whether the DSV will issue a new call or what will follow if the DSV receives an official notification that the president will not propose a candidate from the call of July 6, 2025.