CHAIR of the Judicial Council Jana Bajánková challenged the continuing freezing of judges’ salaries at the Constitutional Court. She asked the court to scrutinise whether the provisions of the amendment to the law on salaries of some constitutional representatives, including the judges, are in compliance with the constitution. She also proposed to temporarily halt their effectiveness, the TASR newswire reported on January 13.
In her motion, which the Constitutional Court received on January 12, Bajánková points to the positive trends in Slovakia’s economy. She said that “continuing to freeze the valorisation of judges’ salaries for the third year in a row does not meet the criteria about the temporality of the precaution as well as the criterion about the exceptionality of interfering with judges’ salaries which are an inseparable part of the material guarantee of judges’ independence”, as reported by TASR.
Bajánková declared her intentions already in December 2014.
The freeze of salaries of all constitutional representatives (including judges) was pushed through by MPs of the ruling Smer party. It means that they will remain on the 2012 level. It should save €14.1 million.
Though Bajánková claims she does not see it as a problem if her salary does not increase, she adds that she cannot agree with “repeated interference into salaries of judges without fulfilling conditions for this repeated step”, as reported to TASR. She stressed she does not ask for any benefits for judges.
“I only ask to observe the constitutional principles and the rules set by law,” Bajánková said.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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