The State Judicial Council (DSV) on Wednesday issued a new public call for applications for the post of Supreme Court President. All interested candidates are required to submit their applications over the next 30 days, DSV president Darko Milkovic said.

President Zoran Milanovic informed the DSV in a letter last week that he would not propose any of the candidates from the previous call and called for the repetition of the procedure. He said he had no intention of influencing the procedure but wanted to help improve the functioning of the judicial branch of government and ensure the functioning of the State Electoral Commission after the expiry of the term of the current Supreme Court President.

The incumbent Supreme Court President Djuro Sessa, whose term expires in July, and attorneys-at-law Sime Savic and Lidija Horvat responded to the first public call. Horvat has in the meantime withdrawn her application.

Insisting on his constitutional right to propose a candidate, Milanovic proposed Professor Zlata Djurdjevic as his candidate for Supreme Court President, but Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic refused to include his proposal on Parliament’s agenda, saying that it was unlawful. Milanovic claimed that lawmakers would have to vote on his candidate anyway.

Last week, the Constitutional Court ruled that the President of the Republic can only propose a candidate who has responded to a public call issued by the DSV. The court said that this does not restrict the constitutional right of the President of the Republic to propose his candidate for Supreme Court President.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that Djurdjevic, although a criminal law professor, had agreed to be part of an unlawful procedure and could therefore not lead the highest judicial authority in the country. Parliamentary right-wing opposition parties also announced that they would not support Djurdjevic.

Djurdjevic confirmed last Thursday that she would not give up on her candidacy and would respond to a new DSV call. Sessa has announced that he will not run for another term because he does not have the President’s support.