Ivica Dacic
Serbian Parliament speaker Ivica Dacic has said that the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters, the Venice Commission, believed that the proposed constitutional changes in relation to the judiciary left space for parliament’s influence on the election of judges and prosecutors, but that the Commission has approved the final version of the document.
“We tried to ensure as much as possible influence (of the Serbian parliament). Not influence, but some sort of control to avoid exclusive appointments by the judicial branch,” Dacic told TV B92 in the evening on Jan. 5.
He stressed that the proposed changes had been approved by the Venice Commission and also associations of judges and prosecutors in Serbia.
Dacic explained that the constitutional changes referred exclusively to the election of judges and prosecutors, who, according to him, would be in the future elected by the High Court Council and the Serbian State Prosecutorial Council instead of the parliament as was the case so far. The High Court Council would comprise four renowned lawyers appointed by the parliament, a president of the Supreme Court, who would also be elected by the parliament, and six judges who would be selected by their fellow judges.
Speaking about the State Prosecutorial Council, Dacic said that it would consist of four reputed lawyers to be appointed by the parliament, an attorney general and a justice minister also elected by the parliament, while the remaining five members would be public prosecutors.
A referendum on constitutional changes in the judiciary domain is scheduled for Jan. 16, 2022.
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