Mazak: I Want to Run for EGC Judge

Bratislava, January 31 (TASR) – Former chairman of the Slovak Constitutional Court Jan Mazak, who is currently serving as advisor to President Andrej Kiska, announced on Tuesday that he wants to run again for additional judge of the European Union’s General Court (EGC).

Mazak was speaking at a press briefing after meeting officials from the Venice Commission at the Presidential Palace concerning a stalemate in filling the three vacant judicial posts at the Slovak Constitutional Court.

“I’ll be running for the same reason that I’ve been repeating since my first candidacy was proposed. I believe that I meet all the requirements to carry out this post, including those required by the consultative committee erected for evaluating individual candidates. The outcome isn’t in my hands, however,” said Mazak.

Mazak ran for the first time in June of last year, but received only nine votes in a secret ballot held in the 18-member Judicial Council, thus being short of one vote to apply for the judicial post in Luxembourg.

Meanwhile, the consultative committee of the Council of the European Union in late 2016 rejected the bid of former Siet (Network) MP Radoslav Prochazka due to concerns about his personal integrity, pointing out suspected attempts to avoid taxation on certain expenditures during his presidential campaign in 2014. Maria Patakyova was rejected in Luxembourg even before Prochazka due to her insufficient knowledge of French.