Grands colloques - Les Cours constitutionnelles, garantie de la qualité démocratique des sociétés ? - 195

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LES COURS CONSTITUTIONNELLES

candidate has been given priority over other candidates. Finally, members of
the Croatian Parliament vote on each candidate individually. For a candidate
to beelected, he or she must receive a two-thirds majority of the Members
of the Croatian Parliament.
The requirement of a two-thirds majority was introduced in the amendments to the Constitution adopted in 2010 (until then, a qualified majority
was stipulated, i.e., a majority of the total number of votes of all members
of the Croatian Parliament). Although the new constitutional solution was
seen as a move to create a consensus of parliamentary parties toelect the
most qualified candidates, in practice it led to a situation where it was impossible toelect any candidate because there was no consensus, which almost
resulted in a constitutional crisis in 2016 when new judges had to be (re)
elected to ten vacant positions. The situation provoked a whole series of
comments and discussions in Croatian professional circles and in the public
at large, even dramatic appeals for the saving of the Constitutional Court.15
However, such situations pertain to the "political arena" and they do not
depend in any way on the professional and moral values of the candidates
for constitutional court judge.
Regarding the foregoing, it seems that objectively the weakest link in the
existing system for theelection of constitutional court judges is precisely
the procedure for theirelection. The parliamentary Committee forms a
potential circle of candidates for constitutional court judgeby publishing a
public invitation to "judicial institutions, law schools, the bar association,
legal associations, political parties, other legal persons and individuals to
nominate candidates for theelection of judges of the Constitutional Court
of the Republic of Croatia".16
It is clear, however, that anyone who fulfils (or does not fulfil) the
requirements set out in the Constitution and the Constitutional Act on
the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia may be nominated
upon the proposal of a wide circle of legal persons, all natural persons or
on their own initiative. Thus, the procedure of nomination for theelection
of constitutional court judges in the Republic of Croatia has all the characteristics of a classic "public recruitment procedure", which does not include
any "self-protection" mechanisms. Therefore, it is known to happen that
a larger number of individuals repeatedly submit their application for the
public call for the election of constitutional court judges, and on their own
initiative, although based on parliamentary practice they have no prospects
15. E.g. Round table at the Croatian Parliament "Will Croatia elect Constitutional Court
judges on time?", 15 April 2016, http://www.h-alter.org/files/repository/2016/04/20160414_
gong_poziv_medijima_ustavni_sud.pdf.
16. V. Omejec J., Neovisnost Ustavnogsuda Republike Hrvatske (Independence of the
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia).

http://www.h-alter.org/files/repository/2016/04/20160414_

Grands colloques - Les Cours constitutionnelles, garantie de la qualité démocratique des sociétés ?

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