The Slovenian parliament initiated a procedure to transfer judicial appointments from parliament to the president and a change in the composition of the Judicial Council, which vets the candidates, on Wednesday.
Under the bill’s current version, which is yet to be finalised, the final nod of approval for judges would no longer be made in parliament but by the president. As is the case now, candidates would be put forward by the Judicial Council, but with a two-thirds majority instead of a regular majority.
The Judicial Council would be regulated by a special law and is planned to expand from four members to 15.
Parliament would elect seven members with a two-thirds majority of the present MPs, choosing from university law professors, lawyers and other jurists, while judges would select eight from among their ranks.
The procedure was initiated with a two-thirds majority in a rare cross-partisan vote as the Democrats (SDS), the largest opposition party, were the only ones to cast no votes.
These are designed to depoliticise judicial appointments and strengthen the independence of the judiciary.
The SDS, however, believes that the proposed changes worsen the politicisation of the judiciary.
MP Branko Grims has argued that while all political parties are represented in parliament, the president of Slovenia is “one person with their own values and political creed – and no oversight.”
The parliamentary constitutional commission will now finalise the draft constitutional bill and send it to the plenary, where a two-thirds majority is needed to pass.
(Eva Horvat | sta.si)
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