Sandra Bencic, a member of parliament from the Mozemo party, spoke to N1’s Igor Bobic on N1 Studio Live about the conflict of jurisdiction between USKOK and the EPPO in the Beros case.

Experts confirm that the law regulating decisions on jurisdiction is not good.

As is known, it gives the State Attorney-General the power to decide whether a case falls under the jurisdiction of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the anti-corruption office USKOK or another department of the State Attorney’s Office.

Conflicts of jurisdiction should be resolved by the Croatian Supreme Court

“We have decided to call on all MEPs, including those who support the majority, to sign a motion for a constitutional review to enable a legal solution to this situation. This will show how important it is to have a constitutional court and to ensure that Croatian law is in line with European law,” said Bencic.

“This week, we also submitted a proposal to amend the law implementing the EPPO Regulation to change the current model for resolving conflicts of jurisdiction. Instead of the State Attorney-General, the Croatian Supreme Court would take over this task,” she added.

“Under our current law, conflicts of jurisdiction are resolved by the State Attorney-General, who is not authorised to address the European Court of Justice. However, both the Regulation and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union require that the body taking such decisions must be able to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. The State Attorney-General is not such an independent body,” she explained.

Hungary and Poland faced the same issue

She considers it highly problematic that in Croatia the State Attorney-General’s decisions are final and emphasises the need for judicial review of such decisions.

The European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi has informed the European Commission about Turudic’s decision.

“She has contacted the European Commission to find out how jurisdiction is determined and applied in the Beros case, pointing to systemic violations of the rule of law in Croatia. This is something that Hungary, and Poland faced during the PiS era. Croatia is now being discussed as a country with systematic violations of the rule of law,” she emphasised.