VIA IURIS has prepared questions for the candidates for constitutional judges and calls upon the MPs to duly conduct their hearings in the Constitutional Committee

VIA IURIS, in collaboration with experts on constitutional law, has compiled and sent a list of basic questions to which candidates should respond in the forthcoming hearing to all members of the National Council of the Slovak These questions were also made public by VIA IURIS on the website www.zadobruvolbu.sk.

Only two days remain until the key hearing of 40 candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic commences in the Constitutional committee which should be as detailed and thorough as possible to highlight the differences between candidates and to outline which candidates are most suitable for this function. According to the Rules of Procedure of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, all current MPs, not only members of the Constitutional Committee, may question the candidates.

“Since a personality, values and character are crucial to a good constitutional judge, it is imperative that questions also address these requirements. Therefore, we have drafted questions that do not examine the specific expertise of candidates that the candidates could learn from textbooks, but they seek to show their way of thinking and their attitudes to essential values. We have made the questions public so that all candidates have an equal chance to think through the answers and that no one is disadvantaged, ”explains Peter Wilfling, a lawyer at VIA IURIS.

MPs have received a letter from VIA IURIS this morning with the recommended questions for candidates. For example, the set of questions you will find in the appendix includes:

What do you consider to be your most significant contribution to the protection of human rights?

What ethical and moral dilemmas have you dealt with in your professional activity? What ethical dilemmas do you see in the work of the constitutional judge?

Which decision of the Constitutional Court do you disagree with and why?

What is the most interesting constitutional problem or dilemma you have solved?

What do you think about judicial restraint and judicial activism in the Constitutional Court?

What actions, relationships and contacts will you have to give up if you become a constitutional judge so that your independence and impartiality is not called into question?

In your opinion, can the list of human rights be extended, depending on the development of society, without changing the constitutional text?

“However, candidates for Constitutional Court judges should also answer specific questions about their career, life and professional abilities. We, therefore, call on the deputies to thoroughly examine potential new judges of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic and to devote an appropriate amount of time to their hearing in the Constitutional Law Committee, ” explains Kristína Babiaková, an attorney-at-law collaborating with VIA IURIS.

One of the facts of the VIA IURIS survey [1] is that a thorough hearing is also considered essential by the public. “According to the survey, more than 83 per cent of citizens prefer that candidates publicly answer many detailed questions to see if they are trustworthy persons and professionals. The Constitutional Court has significant power; thus, it is necessary to pay equal attention to all potential constitutional judges,” concludes Babiaková.

Candidate profiles – www.zadobruvolbu.sk

For smoother and full access to the information about individual candidates, VIA IURIS has prepared a page where the public can find candidates’ profiles with their CVs and motivation letters. Due to the complexity of the topic, the website also contains the most important information about the mission and functions of the Constitutional Court.

[1] The survey for VIA IURIS was carried out by Focus agency in the period 18.09.2018 – 25.9.2018, on a sample of 1015 respondents.