CONSTITUTIONAL COURT'S RULING ON ISTRIAN STATUTE NOT BEFORE AUTUMN

ZAGREB, May 23 (Hina) - A ruling of the Constitutional Court whether 13 provisions of the Statute of Istria County are in compliance with the Constitution can be expected in autumn in view of the entire procedure and the coming summer holidays. The Croatian government on Tuesday decided to request the Constitutional Court to assess the questionable parts of the Istrian Statute. According to the procedure, the Constitutional Court President should now appoint a Constitutional Court judge whose duty will be to tackle the matter. At the proposal of the latter, the Court can forward another request to Istria County's assembly, which adopted the contested statute, to respond to the case. The time-term for the assembly's response is 60 days. If no response is filed in that time, the further procedure will go on. If the response is to be lodged, it can immediately be addressed. The appointed judge, along with experts, should first reach a solution. Subsequently other Constitutional Court judges discuss the solution. Besides, a discussion with all parties in concern, including bodies of state administration, local administration and the relevant experts, can be convened as well if it is assessed as necessary. Until the adoption of the ruling of the Constitutional Court, the decision of the Justice Ministry to suspend the contested provisions, including the one on the official use of Italian in Istria, remains in effect. (hina) sb ms