Turkalj: One of the most important things to gain judicial independence is political consensus
Skopje, 25 April 2023 (MIA) – One of the most important things in order to gain judicial independence is political consensus. We should solve the problems that exist together, according to justice expert for the Western Balkans, Kristian Turkalj, who was chief negotiator in Croatia’s negotiating team for Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.
In his address on Tuesday during the 11th session of Working Group 3 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights (Chapter 23), on the topic “The role of the Judicial Council and the Public Prosecution Council in gaining independence and integrity in the judiciary”, he said that the executive branch can’t implement a grand judiciary corruption reform until it has the support of the legal sector.
“This is the first year that Croatia is reaping the benefits of EU membership, such as free travel, the Schengen Area benefits, and the aid the EU provided during the pandemic, which is the most important thing for Croatia,” Turkalj said.
Political consensus is one of the most important things in order to solve all problems together.
“There are not enough regulations in Chapter 23, the accent is placed on values. It’s a difficult chapter, because no one says if we’ve reached the values expected of us,” the Croatian expert says.
This cluster is the first to be opened and the last one to be closed, because the progress achieved by the first cluster will predetermine the way and speed of the negotiations, Turkalj added.
“We need to do away with the wrong opinion that the Committee is the only body that negotiates, all interested parties need to discuss. Ukraine military factors could potentially bother Macedonia, but we can recognize if our negotiations are affected positively or negatively by this. If the judiciary doesn’t want to honestly elect the best professionals, then it won’t. That’s why we need to see how important it is in Macedonia to elect judges well. It’s frustrating when someone who was 150th on the list shoots up to the #1 spot to get a job they don’t deserve,” Turkalj said.
The National Convention for the European Union in North Macedonia hosted the session on Tuesday, organized by the European Movement. dk/nn/
