The President and Vice-President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ms. Seada Palavrić and Ms.Valerija Galić, met with H.E. Johann Sattler, Head of EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina and EU Special Representative in BiH. In an open and friendly conversation, an accent was placed on the need of continuous activity, both of the Constitutional Court and local and international actors, to find the best solutions for the challenges that this institution has been facing for a long time.
The most significant challenges, as emphasized at the meeting, are the failure of the competent authorities to select judges to the Constitutional Court, which directly causes problems in deciding cases arising under appellate jurisdiction, the problem of financing and the issue of non-enforcement of certain decisions of the Constitutional Court. They also discussed the understanding of one of the requirements for opening the negotiations for accession to the European Union, which relates to the participation of international judges in the work of the Constitutional Court. In the opinion of President Palavrić, the requirement does not imply that international judges should not be part of the Constitutional Court, considering that they are essential for decision-making in cases relating to the fundamental and key activity of the Constitutional Court, and that is abstract review of constitutionality, but rather a different method of their selection.
