Round Table of the Constitutional Courts in Dubrovnik: "Constitutional complaint as an institute for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms"

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, headed by Prof. Jasna Omejec, President, hosted the Round table of constitutional courts of several countries, held in Dubrovnik from 23 to 25 October 2008. In the Round table, the constitutional court judges of Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina together with the Croatian Constitutional Court judges addressed the fundamental issue faced by all constitutional courts that deal with the institute of constitutional complaint - how to strike a balance between the efficient protection of the constitutionally guaranteed human rights in the specific (individual) cases and making it possible for the constitutional courts to efficiently carry out their constitutional duties. The main conclusion was that internal reorganisation and rationalisation of the Court’s work can help to some extent and only for a short period of time, but without the constitutional reform of the constitutional judicature the Constitutional Court would not be able to carry out its constitutional function, and the citizens will be left with no constitutional protection. It is, therefore, essential to create conditions for fast and effective deciding on the most important problems in the constitutional law.