"The judicial reform is not just about changes to the Constitutional Court or Judicial Council but rather an issue of values," Justice Minister Maria Kolikova (For the People) explained after a session of the Government on Wednesday. Cabinet greenlighted the reform, which aims to bring more public trust to the judiciary. According to a survey conducted earlier in 2020 by GLOBSEC in cooperation with the Focus agency, 76 percent of Slovaks do not trust the judiciary.
Significant changes await the Constitutional Court, not only in the way it makes its decisions but also in the way its judges are elected. If Parliament fails to put forth candidates, the president will be allowed to resolve the impasse by appointing the judges on his or her own. If the majority of the court's judges is elected within a single elected term of the Parliament, then their tenure is to be shortened from 12 years to only 6 years. Ever since 9 out of 13 judges retired from the Constitutional Court in February 2019, Slovak society followed the saga of parliament's inability to elect replacements, leaving the court essentially paralysed.
The Judicial Council is to be invested with broader powers in dealing with the disciplinary offenses of judges, such as having business or financial ties with individuals affiliated with organised crime. In addition, the Justice Ministry will strip general court judges of their arbitrary immunity, although it will be possible to prosecute judges for their legal opinion only if a crime was committed. The consent of the Constitutional Court will no longer be needed to have judges and the Prosecutor-General prosecuted in custody.
Judges of the general courts are to retire at 65 or 68, if they wish to work longer, whereas the retirement age for Constitutional Court judges is to be set at 72. The new Supreme Administration Court is to take over the powers to hold disciplinary proceedings against judges and prosecutors as well as the remaining legal professions to a certain extent. Headquartered in Bratislava, the court is to be operational as of August 1, 2021.
Before the reform comes into effect, it also needs to pass in Parliament.
