Ten New Constitutional Court Judges Sworn In, President Milanović Tells them to Protect the Constitutional Order
The newly-elected judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia took an oath before the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović at a ceremony held in the Office of the President of the Republic. In accordance with the provisions of Article 8 of the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, the following newly-elected judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia were sworn in before the President of the Republic: Ante Galić, Andrej Abramović, Miroslav Šumanović, Lovorka Kušan, Rajko Mlinarić, Biljana Kostadinov, Dražen Bošnjaković, Sanja Bezbradica Jelavić, Frane Staničić and Maša Marochini Zrinski.
“Parliament elected you by a two-thirds majority. You who have done this work know very well the content and the burden of that work and the expectations of the public. The Constitution is a political document. Protect the constitutional order, as it is, we do not have any other one, and we will not change it soon”, the President of the Republic told the new Constitutional Court judges.
In his address to the new Constitutional Court judges, he further said: “I hope that what I read yesterday are just gossip and rumours, that it isn’t true because this court was elected and was given a mandate, these ten judges, to do their work as the term of their predecessors has expired. When a term expires, it is over and done with, this is also true of those who were elected directly by the citizens, as in the case of the President of the Republic”.
The President reminded of the principles and foundations of the Western, natural and constitutional right whereby “no one can be a judge in their own case”. “When the Constitution was amended in 2010, the idea was that constitutional court judges, unless new ones were elected, would have their mandates run indefinitely. That was proposed by one of the parties in the negotiations. This is documented, it was recorded, and it was heard. This wasn’t accepted. The rationale of such a decision is clear: that would lead us into the perpetuation of the current situation. And for this reason a timeline of six months was established. I know since I was a direct participant in the negotiations. And so, convinced that these are just rumours, to those who continue their duty or are just beginning it, I want you to be alone before yourselves and before the truth. Each one of you is a judge in your own capacity, as a person with a name and surname, an identity, and you are accountable to yourself because your responsibility is somewhat lesser than your power. Your power is even greater,” President Milanović noted.
Andrej Abramović spoke on behalf of the newly-elected judges. “It is a great honour, we are grateful for this honour, the responsibility is also immense. The job of arbitrating between various branches of government is often difficult, ungrateful, and the only tools a judge has are their words and their pencil. There’s also a public scale, which often displays minimal variation and doesn’t indicate clear results, and everyone reading our decisions must be aware of that. What we can say, since it is hard to promise, that we will make every effort, we will do our utmost and hope that it will be good enough. The public is familiar with the work of some judges, new colleagues will bring new energy to the Court, new knowledge and qualities. I hope that in the coming period the Court will be even better and more efficient”, judge Abramović stated.
Attending the swearing-in ceremony were the president of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia Radovan Dobronić, the president of the Constitutional Court Miroslav Šeparović, Constitutional Court judges Mate Arlović and Goran Selanec as well as family members.
Alongside President Milanović were the Head of the Office of the President Orsat Miljenić and the Head of the Cabinet of the President Bartol Šimunić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta