Reactions to Constitutional Court appointments continue to pour in

Reactions to Tuesday's election of Frane Staničić as the new president of the Constitutional Court and Maša Marochini Zrinski as his deputy, continue to pour in on Wednesday. During the election process on Tuesday five judges walked out of the vote.

Commenting on Tuesday’s election of Frane Staničić as President of the Croatian Constitutional Court and Maša Marochini Zrinski as his deputy, specifically the fact that five of the Court’s judges walked out of the vote, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that he sees nothing controversial in the election of the court's new leadership: “The good thing here is that a large number of judges, eight of them, retained reason and a rational position. I think Professor Barić, who is one of the leading experts on Constitutional law in Croatia, said it all yesterday when she noted that Constitutional Court judges are not there to conduct politics but to deal with the issues that they were given a mandate to deal with by the Croatian Parliament.”

For his part, SDP Party President Siniša Hajdaš Dončić said that he does not hold a grudge against the court's new deputy, Marochini Zrinski, even though she was elected from the opposition quota: “We want the judges to be independent, and to defend something vital in Croatia, and that is a civil state. I personally believe in Mrs. Marochini Zrinski's integrity and honesty, regardless of the fact that she has accepted this role. She is a professors, left-liberal, and the future will show whether this was a good move or not. So, I don't condemn anyone.”

However, others in the opposition felt that the appointments were political in nature and should not have been held just fifteen days before the mandates of three of the judges on the court expire.

Source: HRT