Nenezić on the decision of the Constitutional Court: The timing is telling because of tomorrow’s negotiations in Brussels, we will not stop

Nenezić on the decision of the Constitutional Court: The timing is telling because of tomorrow’s negotiations in Brussels, we will not stop…

„I guess that the timing of the announcement is very telling. We’ll see what will happen tomorrow. I think that their arguments are stupid because first of all there is the practice of the Constitutional Court, which we referred to, concerning the exhaustion of legal remedies, but we will talk about that later when we see what the decision specifically states,“ lawyer Dragutin Nenezić said in response to the Constitutional Court’s announcement that the request for the evaluation of the constitutionality of the CBK Regulation has been declared inadmissible.

The request was submitted to the Constitutional Court on February 20 by a lawyer from Gnjilane, Vasilije Arsić. In addition to Arsić, it was drawn up by Nenezić and a professor at the Faculty of Law, Dušan Čelić.

In their request, it was first indicated that the Regulation is not in accordance with Articles 7, 11, 22, 23, 24, 25, 46, 49, 51, 57, 58, and 59 of the Constitution of Kosovo, as well as Article 16 of the Law on Central Bank of Kosovo.

The lawyer’s main complaint concerned Article 35 of the CBK Regulation, which stipulates the euro as the sole currency for cash transactions and payment systems in Kosovo in the sense of „Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and Articles 16, 17 and 18 of Law no. 03/L-209 on the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo“.

By applying Article 35 of the regulation, they pointed out in the request, that basic human rights are violated – to property, work, profession, health, and social protection.

In addition, the application of the same article is discriminatory, they stressed, especially because there was no consultation with the Serbian community regarding the issue.

At the same time, the lawyers stressed that this regulation contradicts the constitutional regulation that the issue must be clearly regulated by law, and not by an act of the CBK.

The lawyers also indicated that the UNMIK regulations have not yet been repealed, and they requested that the decision of the CBK be suspended until the final decision of the Constitutional Court.

Today, a little more than four months later, the Constitutional Court declared this request inadmissible and refused to suspend the decision.

They justified their decision to reject Arsić’s request by saying that he had not exhausted all available legal means. In other words, he did not reach out to lower court instances, before addressing the Constitutional Court.

At the same time, even if for some reason he decided to send the request to the Constitutional Court, according to the interpretation of the Constitutional Court’s answer, he would have to present arguments for it – that the lower courts are not effective or that he had no other legal means at his disposal. They claim he didn’t have such arguments.

Nenezić: A decision after nearly five months questions their effectiveness, especially with Brussels tomorrow

One of the applicants of this request, Dragutin Nenezić, said that the Constitutional Court has rushed to issue a statement ahead of tomorrow’s meeting in Brussels.

„They rushed to announce the decision before tomorrow’s meeting in Brussels. I assume that there will be something related to this topic, and that’s why they did it,“ he said in a statement to KoSSev.

„My guess is that the timing of the announcement is very telling. We’ll see what will happen tomorrow. I think that their arguments are stupid because first of all there is the practice of the Constitutional Court, which we referred to, regarding the exhaustion of legal remedies, but we will talk about that later when we see what the decision specifically states.“

He refused to give any other comment, considering the fact that the Constitutional Court has published only a press release, not the decision itself, which will be delivered later.

„Regarding that procedural part, they also mention in detail how the Central Bank is the only one competent to regulate the issue of currency use, which is not true – it is regulated by law,“ emphasized Nenezić.

Nenezić is determined to go all the way, highlighting the same arguments that he and his colleagues stated earlier in their request – that there is a practice of the European Court of Human Rights:

„That they are obliged to take into account as per their own Constitution, which states that when a legal remedy is not effective, one can go directly, in this case – to the Constitutional Court“.

„At the same time, what effectiveness are we talking about when we waited five months for the decision of the Constitutional Court, from February to June?! They should have decided in March at the latest, according to their rules, but they didn’t. They announced it the day before the negotiations, so as far as I’m concerned – that showed their true colors. When the decision is reached, we will carry on.“

„The part on the competence is truly nonsense, but that shows their true colors. As for me personally, I don’t have any problem with that, I will push this to the end because I have something to base it on. I’m just waiting for the decision,“ Nenezić concluded in a statement for KoSSev.