LOWER HOUSE DISCUSSES LAW ON CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

ZAGREB, Sept 24 (Hina) - A discussion on a proposed bill on the Constitutional Court, which was proposed following an inter-party agreement, by one-fifth of the MP's of the Lower House, on Friday opened the continuation of the 42nd session of the Croatian National Sabor. The objective of the proposed bill is to strengthen the role of the Constitutional Court ensuring protection of the Constitution and its legality as well as constitutional laws, Mato Arlovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said on behalf of the bill's proposers. The proposed bill represents a huge step forward in relation to the current Act. According to the proposed bill, the new law would contain provisions for a Rule Book for the Constitutional Court which would relate to conditions and time frames to initiate procedures requiring constitutional evaluation, cases at the Constitutional Court and the legal effects of its decisions, finally procedures to protect constitutional freedoms and human and citizens' rights. In addition to a series of innovations, the proposed bill foresees the possibility of initiating a case before the Constitutional Court even before all legal means have been exhausted in cases where a decision is not made in a timely manner which would violate constitutional rights and freedoms and that unrepairable repercussions could be cause to a plaintiff. According to the proposed bill, judges of the Constitutional Court would be proposed by the House of Counties, while a majority vote of MP's in the House of Representatives would elect judges. (hina) sp