On Tuesday, Constitutional Court President Dobrila Kacarska described the completion of the institution’s composition and the need to introduce the constitutional lawsuit mechanism as the main challenges for solving next year. The Court has eight judges though the foreseen number is nine.
Regarding the constitutional lawsuit mechanism, Kacarska called on politicians to enable citizens to use it in order for them to protect their freedoms and rights instead of having to start proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
However, constitutional changes are needed to expand the competences of the Court, which has this year been flooded with 210 new initiatives and seven applications for protection of rights and freedoms of citizens. Regarding the issue of ethnicity columns, Kacarska’s stand is that nobody must force anybody to reveal their ethnicity by presenting it in a birth, death, or marriage certificate.
When it comes to the laws related to the construction of the Corridors, she expects them to be on the agenda of a session after the holidays. With regards to the Law on Languages, the judge working on the case still hasn’t handed it over. Next year, the Constitutional Court will need to decide on other issues, including the Criminal Code changes and the Solidarity Tax Law.