The President of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic reacts on “ The Assessment of Formal Independence of Institutions”

The President of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, Marcela Kosová, responds to the "Assessment of Formal Independence of Institutions" prepared by NGOs, the Institute for Social and Economic Reforms INEKO and the civic association Transparency International Slovakia, which, according to these institutions, was prepared on the basis of legal and formal criteria also for the year 2023.

Surprisingly, the NGOs also cite as a "problem" for 2023 that number of judges have prevailed number of non-judges members in the Judicial Council, making sufficient public scrutiny of the judiciary impossible. However, this statement is not true as the number of judges and non-judges in the Judicial Council is balanced.

The President of the Judicial Council reminds that according to the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, the Parliament, the Government and the President elect or appoint a total of nine members of the Judicial Council out of eighteen, which can only be persons who are not judges. This is an amendment to the Constitution by Constitutional Act No. 422/2020 Coll. that came info effect from 1st of January 2021.

Nor is it true that the political affiliation of a member of the Judicial Council is not limited, as stated in the evaluation. In addition to the fact that the nine members of the Judicial Council are judges, who by virtue of their office must not be politically active or members of political parties, European standards emphasise that no member of the Judicial Council, including non-judges, should have political connections not only during their term of office but also for a reasonable time before and after their membership of the Judicial Council.

It is also incorrect to state that the budget of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic constitutes a separate chapter of the State budget. The Judicial Council does not have a separate budget chapter and therefore the members of the Judicial Council do not have such funds.  The Office of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, which is not headed by any member of the Judicial Council or its President, has a separate budget chapter.

The President of the Judicial Council, Marcela Kosová, regrets that the above-mentioned shortcomings of the evaluation had an impact on the index of the legally guaranteed independence of the Judicial Council, thus negatively distorting its image in the eyes of the public.