By voting on only one member of the Judicial Council, we have once again shown that we are not ready for the much-needed reforms. The mandate of four members of the Judicial Council has long expired, and only one member of this body was elected at yesterday’s session. Whom exactly the new member is to replace will be known after the draw, however, this is not an appropriate way to fill a place in such an important body.
Representatives of the legislative power still have important obligations when it comes to judicial elections. We hereby appeal that the Constitutional Court judges be elected as soon as possible, so that this Court can work at its full capacity.
We also wish to point to the obligation to elect the Supreme Court President, who by function is also a member of the Judicial Council, so this matter is of great importance. In addition, the Minister of Justice is also a member of the Judicial Council by function; thus, the issue of political influence is still significant in this body. We had the opportunity to see what kind of negative effect this can have when the then Prime Minister of Montenegro – as the coordinator of the Ministry of Justice – had to cast a decisive vote during the election of judges. In addition to the above, the election of the Supreme State Prosecutor is no less significant, in order for this institution to function with full mandate.
In such political circumstances in Montenegro, there is less and less hope that any of the above-mentioned obligations will be realized in the near future. CA has previously pointed on several occasions to the negative impact of these actions of political subjects, who are solely responsible for such a problematic state in perhaps the most important institutions. The mentioned actions of deputies will certainly be recognized by our European partners and reflected in the annual EU Report on the progress of Montenegro.
