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Government Withdraws Proposal to Strengthen Judicial Council
Wednesday 02 December 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 2 (TASR) - The Slovak Government on Wednesday withdrew its amending proposal for the Act on Judges at the behest of Prime Minister Robert Fico and Interior Minister Robert Kalinak.
The amendment had been prepared by former justice minister Stefan Harabin (LS-HZDS), who is now Supreme Court Chairman. The amendment was in second reading in April, and has since that time been postponed several times to a later date. The Justice Ministry didn't want to say whether or not it will try to bring forward the legislation again to Parliament in this term (set to end in June).
According to the amendment, decisions on the most important issues of organisation, management and administration of courts was to be transferred from the authority of the executive to the Judicial Council, which is also headed by former justice minister Harabin. The ministry at the time reported that the aim of the amendment is to strengthen the independence of the judiciary by conferring on the Judicial Council or Supreme Court greater responsibilities.
On the basis of the currently valid legislation, the administration of courts, and their personnel, financial, organisational and economic issues is under the remit of the Justice Minister. This agenda, among other things, includes naming and recalling chairmen and vice-chairmen of courts with the exception of the Supreme Court Chairman, naming and recalling of Justice Academy board members and director, creation of court budgets and management of their accounting and tenders.
With the new legislation, issues such as naming and recalling of courts' chairmen and vice-chairmen would have been under the authority of the Judicial Council. The ministry would, however, continue to be responsible for the creation of legislation and execution of international agreements.
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