“Special treatment” for Vojvodina officials

The Vojvodina assembly will request from the Anti-Corruption Agency to allow its members to to keep their positions along with those in local governments. Belgrade daily Politika writes today that Vojvodina’s authorities will try to get the Anti-Corruption Agency to allow the province’s assembly members, elected under the majority system, to keep their seats in the assembly, and their positions in the local government after April 1. “Special treatment” for Vojvodina officials This attempt concerns 15 assembly members who are at the same time mayors and municipal presidents. 14 of those are from the DS-led coalition “For a European Vojvodina”, and one is from the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). Meanwhile, the Law on Anti-Corruption Agency says that Serbian officials will have to choose only one office, and make that decision by the end of March. Vojvodina’s authorities think that “this is a specific issue”, writes the newspaper, since the withdrawal of the officials in question from the assembly would lead to extraordinary elections in their constituencies, so they have been drafting an initiative to them exempt from the law. Ruling coalition assembly group chief Dragoslav Petrovic confirmed that a decision, prepared by the Vojvodina government for the provincial assembly, will specify that the initiative is being launched to allow the mayors and municipal presidents to keep both positions until the end of their mandates. The Anti-Corruption Agency has previously announced that a list of the duties that cannot be simultaneously performed will be published by March, but according to what has been stated so far, holding of double state offices will be approved exceptionally and only to new officials. The newspaper writes that it is hard to say how many of the 120 assembly members in Novi Sad hold two or more state or public jobs, because other than local officials, there is also a number of directors of public enterprises and members of boards of directors. “The conflict of interest in Vojvodina is more a rule than an exception. Is this not sufficiently illustrated by the fact that President of provincial government Bojan Pajtic is at the same time president of the boards of directors of the two biggest funds (Vojvodina Capital Investment Fund and Fund for the Development of Vojvodina), through which all the money goes,” says spokesman of the provincial board of the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia (DS) Milenko Jovanov. According to him, provincial authorities will likely do everything to make sure “rules that apply to everybody else in Serbia do not apply to them”, and that it is “only up to the Anti-Corruption Agency how persistent it will be in making sure the law is the same for everybody”. Prema njegovim recima, pokrajinska vlast ce verovatno ucini sve da "pravila koja vaze za sve druge u Srbiji" ne vaze i za njih i da samo od agencije zavisi koliko ce istrajati u tome da je zakon isti za sve.

“Special treatment” for Vojvodina officials

This attempt concerns 15 assembly members who are at the same time mayors and municipal presidents.

14 of those are from the DS-led coalition “For a European Vojvodina”, and one is from the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

Meanwhile, the Law on Anti-Corruption Agency says that Serbian officials will have to choose only one office, and make that decision by the end of March.

Vojvodina’s authorities think that “this is a specific issue”, writes the newspaper, since the withdrawal of the officials in question from the assembly would lead to extraordinary elections in their constituencies, so they have been drafting an initiative to them exempt from the law.

Ruling coalition assembly group chief Dragoslav Petrović confirmed that a decision, prepared by the Vojvodina government for the provincial assembly, will specify that the initiative is being launched to allow the mayors and municipal presidents to keep both positions until the end of their mandates.

The Anti-Corruption Agency has previously announced that a list of the duties that cannot be simultaneously performed will be published by March, but according to what has been stated so far, holding of double state offices will be approved exceptionally and only to new officials.

The newspaper writes that it is hard to say how many of the 120 assembly members in Novi Sad hold two or more state or public jobs, because other than local officials, there is also a number of directors of public enterprises and members of boards of directors.

“The conflict of interest in Vojvodina is more a rule than an exception. Is this not sufficiently illustrated by the fact that President of provincial government Bojan Pajtić is at the same time president of the boards of directors of the two biggest funds (Vojvodina Capital Investment Fund and Fund for the Development of Vojvodina), through which all the money goes,” says spokesman of the provincial board of the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia (DS) Milenko Jovanov.

According to him, provincial authorities will likely do everything to make sure “rules that apply to everybody else in Serbia do not apply to them”, and that it is “only up to the Anti-Corruption Agency how persistent it will be in making sure the law is the same for everybody”.

Prema njegovim rečima, pokrajinska vlast će verovatno učini sve da "pravila koja važe za sve druge u Srbiji" ne važe i za njih i da samo od agencije zavisi koliko će istrajati u tome da je zakon isti za sve.