Constitutional judges sworn in - Milanović: Protect the constitutional order, as it is

Parliament convened today and confirmed the agreed ten constitutional judges by a two-thirds majority, by individual vote. The judges took their oaths in front of President Zoran Milanović for an eight-year term.

After the national anthem was sung, the elected judges was each swore in, in front of President Zoran Milanović with the words: "I swear on my honor that in performing the duties of a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, I will adhere to the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Croatia and that I will conscientiously perform my duty".

President Milanović told the newly elected judges of the Constitutional Court to "protect the constitutional order", reminding them of the power they have, and on behalf of the judges, Andrej Abramović said that they are aware of the great responsibility that has "fallen upon them".

Abramović: We will do our best

After the judges of the Constitutional Court took the oath, Andrej Abramović addressed them on behalf of all of them.

“We have been honored and we thank you for the honor. Responsibility has fallen upon us, and we are aware of it. The job of arbitrating between various forms of state power is often difficult, thankless, and as a tool you only have your word and your pen,” Abramović pointed out, adding that there is also "that scale", which quite often "shows thinly and does not give clear results".

“There are always nuances and everyone who reads our decisions must be aware of that,” said Judge Abramović.

“We will try,” he said.

“I think I can point this out on behalf of everyone, that we will give the best we can and hope that it will be good enough,” he said.

He said that the judges who were elected to the Constitutional Court for the first time will "certainly give the court new energy, new knowledge, new qualities" and that he personally looks forward to the cooperation and hopes that the Court will "be even better and more efficient" in the period to come.

Milanović: Preserve the constitutional order, as it is

“I do not wish luck to those who continue their duties, or are just starting out - because I am not a dispatcher of luck, I am an ordinary man. I want you to be alone before yourselves and before the truth. Each of you, in your personal capacity, as a person with a name and surname, an identity - is answerable only to yourself. Your responsibility is less than your power, your power bigger. Preserve the constitutional order, as it is. We will not change it so quickly,” President Zoran Milanović told the new judges of the Constitutional Court.

In the context of the postponement of Croatian Parliament's vote on new judges from Friday to Saturday, which is why Croatia was without a Constitutional Court from midnight until the parliamentary vote in the morning, he particularly referred to media stories that the judges of the Constitutional Court held a session where they discussed extending their mandates.

“I hope that what I read yesterday, what we all read in some media, is just gossip and nothing more, that it is a rumor and that it is not true. Because this court was elected and these ten judges were given a mandate to do their job because their predecessors' mandates had expired. When the mandate expires, it is over. This also applies to those who are elected directly by the citizens, for example the President of the Republic. No more,” he emphasized.

He also reminded that when the Constitution was amended in 2010, "there was an idea that if new judges were not elected when their mandates expired, their mandates would run indefinitely," but, he emphasized, that was not accepted.

He wished them good health and success in their work in the new year.

As a reminder, Parliament elected Ante Galić, Andrej Abramović, Miroslav Šumanović, Lovorka Kušan, Rajko Mlinarić, Biljana Kostadinov, Dražen Bošnjaković, Sanja Bezbradica Jelavić, Frane Staničić and Maša Marochini Zrinski to an eight-year term in a single and public vote.

Source: HRT