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SARAJEVO, June 21 (FENA) – Newly-appointed President of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kata Senjak, is satisfied with the functioning of this institution, given the challenges and difficulties the Court is facing due to staffing shortage and the situation caused by coronavirus pandemic.
“We are satisfied with the functioning of the Court due to its staffing shortage and we are trying to resolve all cases within a reasonable time. During the pandemic, the Constitutional Court of FBiH, with all protective measures, held regular sessions and made decisions, so in this regard, the state of natural disaster caused by COVID-19, which was declared, did not negatively affect the work of the Court,” said Senjak for FENA.
In the first interview after the election to the position of President of the Constitutional Court of FBiH, Kata Senjak talks about the work, competencies, priorities and difficulties that this institution is facing.
In this context, she underlined the problem of staffing shortage of the Court, stating that the media, as well as other institutions that could play a role in its filling, in particular, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH (HJPC), were informed.
“The proposal for adopting a decision to appoint three judges, which would be confirmed by the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH, is with the President of the Federation of BiH. The FBiH Constitutional Court has no other means of response to this problem of a staffing shortage. The public competition for the appointment of another judge has ended and further procedure should be undertaken by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH,” explains Senjak, referring to the current moment in resolving this issue.
Referring to the inquiry regarding court decisions/verdicts in practice, i.e. their (non) implementation, the President of the Constitutional Court of FBiH states that in cases where the decision of the Court is not executed, a decision on non-execution of the verdict is issued.
At the same time, she stated that the FBiH Prosecutor's Office and the Parliament of the Federation of BiH were informed about all this.
When it comes to the jurisdiction of the Court and entities authorized to initiate proceedings before the FBiH Constitutional Court, and in the context of enabling citizens to initiate proceedings, Senjak believes that current constitutional solutions regarding the position and jurisdiction of the FBiH Constitutional Court do not allow full implementation of constitutionality.
“This is due to the fact that the Constitutional Court of FBiH is authorized to assess the compliance of regulations issued by the authorities in the Federation of BiH with the Constitution, but not with the FBiH law,” she states.
Commenting on the question of the importance of the constitutional judiciary in the segment of exercising and protecting human rights, and in the context of complicated division of competencies in BiH (five levels of government), the President of the FBiH Constitutional Court emphasizes that this court has an immeasurable role in exercising constitutionality and legality.
“In the extremely complex organization of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we are faced with a rare example of a complex state structure, which results in an extremely complicated distribution of competencies between the five levels of government. In these conditions, when a large number of state bodies pass regulations, a very important condition for ensuring constitutionality is the existence of a secure mechanism for removing regulations that are contrary to the FBiH Constitution. For these reasons, the Constitutional Court of the Federation, as the final authority for interpreting the provisions of the Constitution of the Federation of BiH, has an immeasurable role in achieving constitutionality and legality in the Federation,” said President of the Constitutional Court of FBiH Kata Senjak in an interview with FENA.
(FENA) A. B.
