Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) advocates appointing the President of the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG) in a similar way to the Supreme Court (OGH). “It would be important to move away from nomination by the Council of Ministers,” says Zadic. Instead, the appointment process could be structured in a similar way to that of the President of the Supreme Court, which was recently reformed.
Before the reform, a potential Supreme Court President could only be proposed directly to the Federal President for appointment. Now, a personnel senate has also been set up. The Minister of Justice could deviate from the senate’s order when making the proposal to the Federal President, who formally appoints the Supreme Court President – but a reordering would have to be justified in writing.
At the Federal Administrative Court, there was recently a months-long delay in the appointment because the Council of Ministers could not agree on a candidate.
The SPÖ criticized the reform proposals; Justice spokeswoman Selma Yildirim pointed out that it was the Greens themselves who had recently re-ordered a proposal from the appointment committee.
