Vojvodina Assembly to consider change of Constitution

Vojvodina Assembly to consider change of Constitution

Bogaroski said at a press conference that the draft declaration on the need to initiate a procedure for the change of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia or adoption of a new Constitution of the Republic of Serbia backed by the Democratic Party (DS), the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV) and the New Democratic Party (NDS) will be tabled in the Vojvodina Assembly on Tuesday.

The majority in the Vojvodina Assembly is composed of DS, LSV and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, which constitute opposition in the national parliament.

He said that the Constitution has showed its lack of functionality causing disagreements regarding the adoption of the Vojvodina budget, adding that out of its last eight budgets, seven were not in line with the Constitution.

Bogaroski underlines that there is no party in the Serbian parliament which is eurosceptic and does not agree that the change of the Constitution is necessary.

“Such a situation should be taken advantage of,” Bogaroski said, adding that the draft declaration is calling for the opinion of the Vojvodina Assembly, which has to be taken into consideration in adopting the new constitution.

He said that the opinion of the Vojvodina Assembly has to be also heard on the position of the province in Serbia.

Commenting on President of the Vojvodina Assembly and LSV leader Istvan Pastor's stance that the moment is not right for the submittal of the declaration, Bogaroski said Pastor's invitation for the meeting on the political situation in Vojvodina last week also mentioned the constitutional position of the province and the draft proposal for the change of the Constitution.

Pastor will have to answer the question why he mentioned the Constitution in the invitation sent to the parties in the Vojvodina parliament, and stated later that the time is not right and that this topic harms the interests of the citizens, Bogaroski said.

Pastor stated on Sunday that the proposed declaration is detrimental to the idea of Vojvodina's autonomy, and described it as vague.

The SVM has not signed the document, but not because it deems that changes to the Constitution are unnecessary, Pastor told Novi Sad-based daily Dnevnik.

“I think that at the moment passing this document would not mean anything in procedural terms, but it would be detrimental to the idea of Vojvodina's autonomy, and give rise to a conflict, and I do not see either political or real -life reasoning for passing this declaration,” noted the speaker of the Vojvodina assembly.

“It is evident that the Constitution must be changed, as it is obvious that this will not happen overnight, and that a change in the supreme law of the land requires a broad debate. However, it is certain that now it is not the time for that,” Pastor said.

Igor Mirovic, vice-president of the SNS (a ruling party at national level) and chairman of the party's Council for Vojvodina, said that the proposed declaration represents a continuity of “a dodgy policy” that is being pursued in Vojvodina, and garners no support from the people.

“It is clear that an entire set of declarations, decisions and statements is aimed at undermining the trust that citizens have in the parties that do not belong to that “incidental corpus” which is constantly stirring conflicts between the provincial and central authorities,” Mirovic said.