ZAGREB, 4 May, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday that law professor Zlata Đurđević was his candidate for the Supreme Court president and asked members of parliament to think carefully before they reject her because he would not give up.

"I am taking this opportunity to ask members of parliament to think carefully about whether they want to turn down such a competent and good candidate for the Supreme Court president, because we have never had a better candidate," Milanović told reporters during a visit to Ogulin.

Đurđević morally, intellectually up to the task, competent

"They should disregard all the lies, fabrications, Lex Perković... That was all a lie, she is completely clean, morally and intellectually up to the task, as well as competent. If they choose to vote against her, I will not hang tough on this nomination."

Milanović repeated that Đurđević was his candidate, that under the Constitution he proposed the candidate for Supreme Court president and that no parliamentary committee or the Supreme Court Council would be able to change his mind.

"I am the President, I propose the candidate and explain my choice and the parliament has the right to turn them down," he said.

"I believe that the parliamentary majority will opt for the candidate whom I consider excellent. I will ask each MP individually to state the reasons they are against her," Milanović said, dismissing speculation that the judicial authorities were in a state of crisis.

Asked if he would meet with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Milanović said that he was always ready for talks with the prime minister.

"I invited him to lay wreaths with me in Okučani, he chickened out," he said.

As for Sunday's incident in Borovo Selo, where a group of young men marched through the town chanting anti-Serb messages, Milanović repeated that police were under the influence of politics, that is, Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović and PM Plenković, and that he considered them responsible for the incident.

Asked about Serb minority MP Milorad Pupovac's comment that Milanović, too, was responsible for incidents, Milanović said ironically "Yes, I'm to blame for the Kennedy assassination as well. He was killed in 1963, I was born in 1966 but I had my hand in it."

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ZAGREB, 31 March (Hina) - The State Judicial Council (DSV) on Wednesday issued a new public call for applications for the post of Supreme Court President.

All interested candidates are required to submit their applications over the next 30 days, DSV president Darko Milković said.

President Zoran Milanović informed the DSV in a letter last week that he would not propose any of the candidates from the previous call and called for the repetition of the procedure. He said he had no intention of influencing the procedure but wanted to help improve the functioning of the judicial branch of government and ensure the functioning of the State Electoral Commission after the expiry of the term of the current Supreme Court President.

The incumbent Supreme Court President Đuro Sessa, whose term expires in July, and attorneys-at-law Šime Savić and Lidija Horvat responded to the first public call. Horvat has in the meantime withdrawn her application.

Insisting on his constitutional right to propose a candidate, Milanović proposed Professor Zlata Đurđević as his candidate for Supreme Court President, but Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković refused to include his proposal on Parliament's agenda, saying that it was unlawful. Milanović claimed that lawmakers would have to vote on his candidate anyway.

Last week, the Constitutional Court ruled that the President of the Republic can only propose a candidate who has responded to a public call issued by the DSV. The court said that this does not restrict the constitutional right of the President of the Republic to propose his candidate for Supreme Court President.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that Đurđević, although a criminal law professor, had agreed to be part of an unlawful procedure and could therefore not lead the highest judicial authority in the country. Parliamentary right-wing opposition parties also announced that they would not support Đurđević.

Đurđević confirmed last Thursday that she would not give up on her candidacy and would respond to a new DSV call. Sessa has announced that he will not run for another term because he does not have the President's support.

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ZAGREB, 25 March, 2021 - State Judicial Council (DSV) head Darko Milković on Thursday confirmed receipt of a notification from the Office of the President, announcing that a new public call for the post of Supreme Court President would be advertised in a couple of days and that interested candidates would be invited to apply.

In an interview with the N1 broadcaster, Milković said that only the head of state could request a new public call or it could be done by their office on their behalf and that that could not be done "by Parliament or an individual MP."

President Milanović earlier in the day called on the DSV to urgently repeat the public call for applications for the post of Supreme Court President, informing it that he would not nominate any of the three applicants following a previous public call.

His office stressed that the President's proposal "is not intended to influence in any way the DSV's constitutionally and legally defined powers" but that the President wanted, "in the current chaotic situation, caused by changes to the Courts Act, to contribute to the best possible and most efficient functioning of the judicial authorities as well as enable the functioning of the State Election Commission after the expiry of the term of the current Supreme Court President."

The Supreme Court President also serves as the chair of the State Election Commission.

Applications following the DSV's previous public call were submitted by Supreme Court President Đuro Sessa, whose term expires in July, and attorneys Šime Savić and Lidija Horvat, with the latter having in the meantime withdrawn her application.

Milanović insists that proposing a candidate for the Supreme Court President is his constitutional right and he has proposed Zagreb law professor Zlata Đurđević for that post. However, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković has refused to put his motion on Parliament's agenda as unlawful.

Milanović has said that members of Parliament will nonetheless have to vote on his nominee.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday concluded that the head of state can propose only a candidate who has submitted an application following a public call by the DSV and it claims that this does not restrict the President's constitutional right to propose a candidate and Parliament's right to elect them.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that even though she was a law professor, Đurđević had agreed to be part of an unlawful procedure and that therefore she could not lead the highest judicial body.

"A person who does not respect the legal order cannot be the President of the Supreme Court because that body protects the legal order, the Constitution, international treaties, all laws," he said.

Đurđević confirmed on Thursday that she did not plan to give up on her candidacy and that she would submit an application following a new public call by the DSV.

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ZAGREB, 23 March, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Tuesday commented on the Constitutional Court's decision made earlier in the day, saying in a Facebook post that rigging a competition for a post was a criminal act and that Judge Zlata Đurđević continued to be his candidate for the Supreme Court president.

"Zlata Đurđević is still my candidate and the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union), regardless of how difficult it may find it, will have to take a vote on her. For or against, and that will make everything clear," Milanović said after the Constitutional Court earlier in the day concluded by a majority vote that the President of the Republic can nominate for the post of the Supreme Court president only a candidate who has submitted an application following a public call by the State Judicial Council (DSV).

Milanović's candidate, Zagreb Law School professor Zlata Đurđević, was not among the three candidates who submitted their applications to the DSV.

Milanović also commented on statements made today by Constitutional Court President Miroslav Šeparović, alluding to media reports about his close friendship with senior HDZ member Vladimir Šeks.

"If public competitions, advertisements and public calls are possibly rigged, that is not the reason to abolish them but rather to enable the election of the best candidate through democratic control - so tells us Šeks's close friend at the Constitutional Court. And he adds that laws must be applied, I quote, 'meaningfully'," Milanović wrote on Facebook, adding "First of all, a competition and a public call are not the same. One more thing you have not learned. And rigging a competition is a criminal act. That goes for everyone, including close friends. You should have learned that."

The president described most Constitutional Court judges as the HDZ's bargaining chips whose role was to save the incumbent Supreme Court President Đuro Sessa, whom he described as "a soldier of the HDZ-run judiciary."

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ZAGREB, 10 March, 2021 - The chair of the parliamentary Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System has said that it would be in the spirit of the Constitution to publish a new call for applications for the Supreme Court president, declining to say if Zlata Đurđević is acceptable to the ruling majority.

"The President must respect the Constitution and under the Constitution, he has the authority to propose a candidate for the Supreme Court president, but he also must respect the legal procedure. That includes the Law on Courts, in line with which a public call is conducted, and the Law on the State Judicial Council (DSV), which specifies conditions a candidate for the Supreme Court president must meet," Dražen Bošnjaković of the ruling HDZ party told reporters in the parliament.

"The Parliament Speaker has already said that he must return the President's proposal for completion as the candidate he has proposed did not submit her application in a public call. Anything that arrives in the parliament must be in line with the law, which is not the case now because an application was not submitted," said Bošnjaković.

There are no special regulations regarding a renewed public call but in the spirit of the system, if no one has applied or if there is no will to propose any of the candidates who have applied, a notification is sent to the DSV that none of the candidates will be proposed and a new public call is advertised, Bošnjaković explained.

As for President Zoran Milanović's candidate Zlata Đurđević's statement that she was willing to apply for the post of Supreme Court president in a new public call, Bošnjaković would not say if she was acceptable to the ruling majority, noting only that that would be seen when and if she applied.

SDP MP: Constitution requires agreement between president, parliamentary majority

The deputy head of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) parliamentary group, Arsen Bauk, said that Đurđević should be elected by a majority vote in the parliament at the proposal of the president of the republic, and that the procedure was a technical matter at the moment.

If the president and the parliamentary majority reach an agreement on Đurđević, she will be elected, and if they don't, she won't. The Constitution requires agreement between the president and the parliamentary majority, anything else is one-upmanship and amuses the public, Bauk said.

"The law has evidently fully served its purpose because this is the most transparent election of the Supreme Court president ever, it won't be this transparent in the next few election cycles," Bauk said.

"If Đurđević is an acceptable candidate to the HDZ, it makes no difference if she is elected based on the (president's) proposal or if she submits an application in a make-believe public call. If I were to make a joke, I would say that if she were honest, she would ask to be elected in a rigged public call. Or an agreement will be reached on someone else, if possible, but there are four more months left," said Bauk.

Also today, during a parliamentary debate, Bauk criticised Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković for breaching the parliament's standing orders by returning President Milanović's proposal for the election of the Supreme Court president to be completed.

"The Parliament Speaker has breached Article 170 of the Standing Orders because he sent back the President's proposal instead of letting the parliament decide on whether the proposal would be put on the agenda," Bauk said, noting that the president's proposal had all the elements it was required to have under the Standing Orders.

"If there are any objections, they are determined in a debate," Bauk said, adding that he was citing a breach of the Standing Orders "in order to have the topic nominated for discussion by the Committee on the Constitution and Standing Orders."

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ZAGREB, 10 March, 2021 - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Wednesday called on President Zoran Milanović to supplement his motion concerning the nomination and election of the Supreme Court President.

The request to amend the motion ensued after some shortcomings were noticed in the submitted motion, a source from the Office of Parliament Speaker said.

Under Article 170 of the legislature's rule book, the sponsor of a motion can be asked to resubmit the amended motion within 15 days, after the parliament speaker establishes that the initial motion has not been submitted in accordance with the rule book of the national parliament.

Otherwise, the motion shall be considered null and void.

On Monday, Milanović announced his plan to nominate the Zagreb law school's professor Zlata Đurđević as his candidate for the Supreme Court President, and said that he would send the relevant proposal to the Sabor on the same day.

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