The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Wednesday that the Croatian mechanism for harmonising case law, which allows judges who were not members of a judicial chamber in a case to change a decision that has already been made, is not compatible with EU law.

Justice Minister Damir Habijan said on Thursday that Croatia would respect the judgement and announced changes to the law. “The EU Court of Justice has made its judgement and of course Croatia will respect it, as every member does. We will analyse this decision in the ministry together with all relevant actors in the judiciary, especially with the judicial authorities, and we will propose changes to the law, but also changes to the procedural rules of the courts,” Habijan said on Thursday after a cabinet meeting.

He explained that the judgement was issued on the basis of a request to determine whether our judicial law complies with the EU acquis, which is an institute for understanding the law. “Regardless of what the new legal solution will look like in the end, it is important for the safety of our citizens when we talk about the unification of jurisprudence,” Habijan said.

Habijan: So far, no one has questioned the conformity of Croatian legislation with EU law

He added that the current solution has existed in Croatian legislation since 1994 and that so far no one has questioned its conformity with EU law. “So if this decision is not harmonised with the EU acquis and does not comply with the court’s decision, it is important to find a solution,” the minister stressed. He considered it crucial that citizens, their lawyers and other stakeholders in the legal system have legal certainty and harmonised case law.

Responding to questions from journalists about the shortage of judges at the High Criminal Court and the increase in judges’ salaries, Habijan said that he had a constructive meeting with the President of the High Criminal Court last week, during which they discussed numerous issues.

He said he would sign an agreement to increase the number of trainee judges and judges as soon as a request was made. On the issue of salaries at this court, he only said that they had discussed it and that the president of the court had left the meeting satisfied.