• Tuesday, 19 November 2024

Kacarska again urges Parliament to elect Constitutional Court justices

Kacarska again urges Parliament to elect Constitutional Court justices
Skopje, 15 February 2022 (MIA) – I don’t expect that Parliament will elect constitutional justices very soon, but I hope the lawmakers will become more aware that they should elect justices to complete the Constitutional Court, which is of vital importance for the country, Constitutional Court President Dobrila Kacarska said Tuesday. Last week, she sent a letter to Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi voicing concerns after the number of justices has reduced and requiring that four Constitutional Court justices to be appointed. North Macedonia’s Constitutional Court has nine members. There’s no constitutional crisis at the moment, Kacarska insisted, but it is a fact that at the moment we have just enough quorum to hold session, but it is affecting the quality of debate. There is no two-third majority because we need four more justices. Appearing on Slobodna TV’s Morning Briefing show, Kacarska said she couldn’t confirm that partisan politics interferes in the election of justices. “I have no facts.” “But, I’d like to stress one thing – there must not be any interference of partisan politics into the election. Constitutional justices have to be exceptional lawyers, persons with integrity who can withhold pressure,” she stated. Asked about the backlogged cases, including the ones on the Prespa Agreement and the languages law, Kacarska said she and her colleagues had agreed to close the cases once the Constitutional Court was completed. Also, she said that the Constitution should be amended so as to give the constitutional justices more authorizations. “It would benefit the citizens,” Kacarska stressed.