Fiacan: Constitutional Court Lacks Judge for Year, House Not Meeting Its Duty

Kosice, January 4 (TASR) - Constitutional Court chair Ivan Fiacan stressed the need to complete the court with the lacking (thirteenth) judge. "For more than a year, Parliament hasn't fulfilled its constitutional duty to elect the necessary number of candidates for the vacated post, so that the president could subsequently appoint one of them as a judge," Fiacan has told in an interview for TASR. There has been one vacancy at the court since Jana Lassakova resigned from the post in September 2023. Parliament hasn't yet elected two candidates for the post of Constitutional Court judge, one of whom is going to be selected by the president and appointed to the court. "The fact that the plenum is incomplete prevents the Constitutional Court from proper functioning. These are petitioners, especially private individuals and corporate entities, who ultimately pay for it, since the average length of proceedings before the Constitutional Court is protracted despite our efforts," stated Fiacan. According to him, the completion of the plenum would not only relieve the judges of their high workload, but also ensure the full legitimacy of the court's plenum, which often decides on motions of society-wide importance. In the new year, the Constitutional Court is due to decide, for example, on the constitutionality of changes to the Slovak Television and Radio Act, amendment to the law on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and amendment to the so-called 'competence law'. ko