Constitutional aspects of the current reform of the selecting constitutional judges in the Slovak Republic and the comparative perspectives in Europe

Abstract

This document concerns the issue of constitutional reform of the Slovakconstitutional judiciary in 2021, which resulted in major changes of the composition, establishment, and powers of the Constitutional Court of the SR. While discussing the constitutional reform of the Constitutional Court, the author first of all points to the evolution of the selection of constitutional judges. This document summarizes new and precised criteria for the selection of constitutional judges and details how, according to constitutional requirements, competing candidates have to be assessed subsequently, provides an overview of the election procedure of the candidates for constitutional judges in parliament. Theimminent part of this document is the comparative analysis of the issue of the constitutional judiciary, with special regard to the selection of constitutional judges in selected member states of the European Union, the synthesis of common features and subsequently the description of the proposal de constitutione ferenda. All of these used methods of scientific research led the author to formulate final conclusion whether the actual constitutional reform is able to fulfill its aim, which is to prevent the political power from interferenting with the independence and effective functioning of the constitutional judiciary.