The fact that the Constitutional Court is not fully staffed, that is, that it has six instead of the legally prescribed seven judges, made it possible for an important decision not to be adopted on the review of the constitutionality of the law ratifying the agreement between Montenegro and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition, among those six judges is Desanka Lopičić, who is illegitimately still in office, even though her mandate should have ended because she had already met both conditions for retirement. If Lopičić were a judge of any ordinary court in the country, she would not be allowed to adjudicate.

The Parliament should urgently elect both candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court (Predrag Krstonijević, a judge of the Higher Court in Podgorica, and Jelena Ružičić, a judge of the Supreme Court), who were nominated by President Jakov Milatović.

With regard to these candidates, no member of parliament has publicly raised any objection, nor are we aware of any reason why they should not be elected to these positions.

The Constitutional Court of Montenegro can be fully effective only when it operates in its full composition, which is why we call on the Parliament of Montenegro to place the issue of electing new judges on the agenda without further delay.