Serbia mulls pros and cons of new constitution

26/10/2006

Serbian voters go to the polls this weekend to give their verdict on a proposed new constitution. Legal experts say the document reflects a consensus among the main political parties.

By Davor Konjikusic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade - 26/10/06

A referendum on the proposed new Serbian Constitution will be held Saturday (October 28th) and Sunday. [Getty Images]

Six years after the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia is on the verge of getting its first post-communist constitution. Although adopting such a document was a top priority of the democratic reformers who came to power in 2000, the process was long delayed. Then, suddenly and almost secretively, the draft constitution was passed in only two weeks.

The new constitution was supported by almost all the major parties in Serbia, and legal experts say it reflects a consensus among political interests.

"It is because of the balance that the Constitution has drawbacks," says Zoran Ivosevic, a former judge of the Supreme Court of Serbia. "I think that constitutional solutions are on a high level regarding human and minority rights. The areas of economy, public financing and property rights, and organisation of power -- especially the judiciary -- were done very carefully. On the downside, territorial autonomy did not get greater authority."

Vojvodina Executive Committee head Bojan Pajtic says he is "more than satisfied" by the amount of financial autonomy his region receives under the new constitution. "Show me what wasn't fulfilled, other than the fact that the decisions made by the Council of Vojvodina are not called a law -- and this not really an essential but technical issue. We even got what we didn't state in the platform, for example that Vojvodina has its symbols, and the constitution stipulates those symbols."

Pajtic says he expects the voters of Vojvodina will come out in favour of the constitution. Otherwise, he says, the old one will remain in force, granting much less authority to Vojvodina.

One criticism that has been made relates to judicial independence. The constitution stipulates that judges should be elected by parliament, and later by the Judiciary Council, while is also elected by parliament. Judges could thus continue to be under pressure from parliamentary political parties. Moreover, the attorney general will become part of the executive branch. Critics say the office should be independent.

According to the Society of Serbian Judges, political activity among judges should be curtailed. Some even say they should be barred from membership in political parties.

"But it is not good to forbid constructive criticism of experts," says Dragana Boljevic. "If a judge thinks that some decisions of political parties are not good, he or she should not be denied the right to say so."

A major novelty is that the bill protects citizens' right to availability of information. Experts warn, however, that there have been problems in implementing the existing Law on Availability of Information of Public Significance. It remains to be seen whether enshrining this right in the constitution will make a concrete difference.