N4.T4 – Constitutional Court – The crisis continues
HRA NEWSLETTER 4 – TOPIC 4
Due to the decision of the parliamentary Constitutional Committee and the National Assembly of Montenegro to state that the office of the Constitutional Court judge Dragana Djuranović was terminated, at the beginning of 2025 the crisis continued. The opposition continued to physically and verbally block the work of the Assembly, preventing the highest legislative chamber from adopting numerous acts.
Although the opposition is still demanding that the decision on the termination of Djuranović’s office be annulled, for the time being the ruling majority is rejecting this request.
In the meantime, after the visit of the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, to Montenegro, European partners proposed that the legality and constitutionality of the decision related to judge Dragana Djuranović be examined by the Venice Commission.[1]
“The European Union once again appeals to Montenegro to amend the current legal framework and establish a special regulation concerning labour rights, including criteria for the retirement of judges and prosecutors, which should be harmonised with European standards and the existing recommendations of the Venice Commission. The EU calls on all competent authorities and political leaders to ensure the full functionality of the Constitutional Court as a key guarantor of the rule of law and democratic stability, including timely appointments based on merit, transparency and statutory requirements”, stated the Delegation of the European Union in Montenegro.
The director of the NGO Human Rights Action, Tea Gorjanc Prelević, believes that it is not certain that the Venice Commission would accept the jurisdiction to decide on the constitutionality of the decision on the termination of judge Djuranović’s office.
“I would find that unusual, because I don’t remember the Venice Commission ever deciding in individual cases. Until now, everything that concerned Montenegro had to do exclusively with draft laws, and it was the same with other countries. It is true that they did deal with the question of whether it is possible to extend the mandates of judges in Bosnia and Herzegovina when the Constitutional Court is completely blocked, so I do not completely rule out the possibility that they will accept this too. However, my assumption is that they will say that it is an individual legal case that can be resolved by applying legal remedies”, said Gorjanc Prelević when she appeared as a guest on the show “Week in the Rearview Mirror”.
The Constitutional Court of Montenegro currently has five of the prescribed seven judges; in addition to Dragana Djuranović, judge Milorad Gogić’s office also ended earlier, and no one was elected to his place in the last competition. Due to the reduced number of judges, only one three-member panel can currently sit, so the number of unresolved constitutional appeals continues to grow. The problem is further aggravated by the fact that the Constitutional Court makes decisions by the majority of the prescribed number of judges (at least four), which often makes decision making impossible.
Such was the decision regarding the termination of office of judge Budimir Šćepanović. At the session held on 25 December, the Constitutional Court unanimously decided to inform the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, about the fulfillment of the conditions for Šćepanović’s retirement, but the judges did not agree on the date when he fulfilled (May 2024) or will fulfil (May 2025) the conditions for the termination of office. Three judges, including Šćepanović himself, were in favour of the implementation of the Labour Law, which would allow him to remain in office until May 2025, while two female judges were in favour of the implementation of the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance.
On 3 January, President Milatović announced a public call for the election of a judge of the Constitutional Court to replace Šćepanović. However, it remains unknown when his office will end and when his successor will in fact take office.
In the meantime, the Constitutional Committee assembled a list of 13 candidates for the election of two judges of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro based on the public call from 23 December 2024.
The Constitutional Committee and the National Assembly of Montenegro must interview the candidates in a timely manner and elect the missing judges of the Constitutional Court without any political calculations, to avoid the repetition of the situation from July 2024, when no one was elected despite the existence of expert candidates who met all the requirements.
[1] An advisory body of the Council of Europe that deals with constitutional issues and provides non-binding opinions and recommendations.
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