Only one invalid application received for the President of the Supreme Court

Only one application has been received for the position of President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, but the candidate who submitted it does not meet the requirements for the position, confirmed the State Judicial Council (DSV).

It should be noted that the DSV published the third public call for the election of the President of the Supreme Court in the Official Gazette on September 5, canceling the one from July 4, after President Zoran Milanović announced in mid-August that he would not propose Professor Aleksandra Maganić from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb to the Croatian Parliament.

Unofficially, it is learned that despite this, Maganić planned to resubmit her application, hoping that more candidates would come forward so that Milanović would have to respect the procedure, thus giving her the opportunity to present before the Parliamentary Justice Committee.

In this context, the statement by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to journalists is perhaps significant, stating that ‘last time Milanović ignored the candidate and did not even refer her to the relevant parliamentary justice committee or the General Assembly of the Supreme Court.’

Although the deadline for applications expired at midnight on Monday, the DSV expects that applications sent by mail could still arrive by the end of the week. After that, they will announce the received candidacies and forward them to the Office of the President of the Republic, which must then seek opinions from the General Assembly of the Supreme Court and the parliamentary Justice Committee. The position of President of the Supreme Court has been vacant for seven months, following the death of former President Radovan Dobronić.

Candidates for the Constitutional Court

At the same time, the names of 14 candidates for the positions of constitutional judges have been announced, as the terms of three current members expire on October 12. Among the candidates are the current judge of the Constitutional Court Goran Selanec, representative of the Republic of Croatia before the European Court of Human Rights Štefica Stažnik, judges Ljiljana Stipišić and Lidija Vidjak, Željko Pajalić, a judge in the Civil Department of the Supreme Court. The public call issued on September 3 also attracted lawyer Senad Bajramović, who has previously competed for this position, as well as Oliver Mittermayer, a former judge of the County Court in Zagreb, Domagoj Sivrić, who spent his career in the Ministry of Defense, lawyer Marko Bonifačić, attorney Neven Cirkveni, attorney Mladen Sučević, Osijek lawyer Vladimir Šplajt, attorney Mate Tomislav Peroš, and Željko Matijašec, the current head of the Professional Service of the City Administration in Zagreb. All candidates will face hearings before the Constitutional Committee, and since a two-thirds majority in parliament is required for the election, inter-party agreement, i.e., an agreement between HDZ and SDP, will follow.