H.E. Ambassador Luigi Soreca, the new Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the European Union Special Representative in BiH, visited the Constitutional Court of BiH today together with his associates.
Ambassador Soreca was welcomed by a delegation of the Constitutional Court led by the Constitutional Court President Seada Palavrić.
President Palavrić informed Ambassador Soreca about the difficult situation in which the Constitutional Court of BiH finds itself. In that regard, the President noted that the Constitutional Court is currently in a very complex situation as a result of political pressures and attacks on the Constitutional Court preventing its unobstructed work. She added that the relevant legislative bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina have failed to fulfil their basic constitutional obligations concerning the appointment of the new judges to the Constitutional Court of BiH. Specifically, the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska (RS) needs to select two judges to the Constitutional Court, whereas the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH needs to select one judge.
President Palavrić noted that it is unacceptable that the RS National Assembly should be setting any conditions in order to fulfil its constitutional obligation of appointment of two judges from the RS.
The President further noted that the RS National Assembly bears the full responsibility for about 10,000 pending appeals for failing to select judges as required under the Constitution of BiH. Thus, the RS National Assembly is preventing the Constitutional Court to hold the sessions of the Grand Chamber that is consisted solely of the national judges and deciding on appeals lodged by citizens from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result, the Constitutional Court is in a situation in which it can decide on but a third of the appeals received. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the Constitutional Court has received more than 4,000 new appeals in this year.
Ambassador Soreca pointed out that he is closely following the situation in which the Constitutional Court is operating, showing full understanding and announcing a full support of the Delegation of the European Union to BiH to the Constitutional Court and its mandate.
