President: Lawyers' demands have been met

President: Lawyers' demands have been met

The enactment of these laws will create the conditions for all those whose duty is to ensure legal security and implementation of laws in Serbia to continue their work, a statement issued by Nikolić's presidential press office quoted him as saying.

At a protest staged by the Bar Association of Serbia in downtown Belgrade on Tuesday, the lawyers, who have been on strike for nearly two months, said that they will end the strike once their demands regarding the amendments to the law on public notaries are met and that they are not satisfied with the amendments proposed by the Ministry of Justice.

The lawyers said that they will end the strike once the Serbian president signs a decree enacting a law that meets their demands, which they said are constitutional and protect the citizens' rights.

Nikolić noted that he is watching closely the current situation in the judiciary in terms of adoption and implementation of laws, which he said need to be in line with the Serbian constitution.

The Serbian president noted that he has no right of influence on legal provisions concerning the amount of fees or who a fee will go to, but said that it is clear that the costs borne by citizens in real estate transactions have been increased enormously, and that, under the laws on public notaries and real estate transactions, even certification of signatures, which was a source of substantial budget revenues, is now completely outside court authority.

"However, a legislative solution such as this is not contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia. There is a question of the economic justifiability of such a change in authority," the statement said.

The law on public notaries was passed in May 2011, during the term of the previous government, but prompted no reactions regarding any controversial provisions - not even from the Constitutional Court, Nikolić pointed out.