Plenković according to the opposition: ‘If they don’t want the Constitutional Court to be filled with three judges, let them say so openly’

Nappiesć said that he was glad that the majority voted for the candidates and assessed that the reaction of the opposition shows “political immaturity and inconsistency”, as well as a lack of readiness for an agreement.

He pointed out that during the negotiations with the opposition, the ruling majority tried to reach a compromise, proposing candidates who, he said, were professional, competent and without political connections.

“We suggested people who, based on their qualifications, reached the professional peak without politics. One is a judge of the Supreme Court (Pajalić), the other is a lawyer in Zagreb (Sučević)”, said Plenković in Cyprus, where he participates in an informal meeting of heads of state or government of EU countries.

He added that the opposition representatives initially agreed to such an approach and some of the proposed candidates, but later changed their position.

Nappiesć asserted that the opposition declaratively advocates the election of neutral, professional and competent candidates without political ties, but in practice rejects such proposals, asking who in that case blocks the filling of the Constitutional Court and the functioning of the institutions.

“We gave them two neutral candidates and the opportunity to choose one, but they didn’t accept that either,” he said and pointed out that the opposition has no specific objections to the expertise of the proposed candidates.

“It’s been a few days since their names have been in the public domain and there are no serious objections to their quality,” he said, assessing that such behavior by the opposition points to the absence of a real intention to reach an agreement.

“If they don’t want the Constitutional Court to be filled with three judges, let them say so openly,” he said, accusing the opposition of a destructive and hypocritical approach, blocking the election of constitutional judges and the functioning of institutions.

He added that the ruling majority offered the opposition everything they asked for, but they refused even that.

He expressed the expectation that an agreement would be reached, and warned again that if this is not achieved, it is the political responsibility to be in the opposition.

The election of constitutional judges requires the agreement of the ruling party and the opposition, as they are elected by a two-thirds majority.

After they left the session of the Committee on the Constitution Saša Đujić (SDP) and Sandra Benčić (We can!) they said that for them that story is over, that they will not vote for HDZ’s proposal and that three new judges of the Constitutional Court will not be elected by the will of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi.