Constitutional Court staffed at end of May at earliest

Nove Veseli, South Moravia, Feb 14 (CTK) - The lineup of the Czech Constitutional Court will only be complete at the end of May at the earliest, US chairman Pavel Rychetsky told CTK after a meeting with president-elect Milos Zeman yesterday.

Even if Zeman submitted all the proposals for missing US judges to the Senate immediately after his early March inauguration, the senators will have another 60 days to debate the nominees under law, Rychetsky said after meeting Zeman yesterday.

"Zeman has promised to speak with all candidates after his inauguration. Then he will immediately submit the proposals to the Senate," Rychetsky said.

He declined to disclose the candidates' names.

"I think there is a number of very good candidates in the Czech Republic, but it makes no sense to disclose their names before Zeman speaks with them," Rychetsky said.

Rychetsky whose own term expires in August, said his keeping the post of US chairman had been also on the agenda of his talks with Zeman.

Since the end of January, the US only has had 12 judges instead of the usual 15. Besides, the term of seven constitutional judges will expire this year. The court is lacking three members even now.

If the number of US judges is lower than 12, the court stops checking bills and decrees.