"Democrats to blame for statute fiasco"

The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) leader says that the Democratic Party (DS) is to blame for the “fiasco” the Vojvodina statute is likely to face. Istvan Pastor told a news conference on Monday that it is clear there are divisions within the ruling DS regarding the statute, and that this is the reason why the draft legislation has not been presented to MPs in parliament yet. "Democrats to blame for statute fiasco" Pastor specified that there is a faction within the DS that wants the statute to be adopted because that would be in accordance with the party’s election promises regarding Vojvodina's autonomy and the need for regionalization and decentralization in Serbia. However, he said that there are those in that party who want to “demonize everything related to Vojvodina”. Pastor is against the idea of returning the statute to the Vojvodina assembly for changes and said that this is a clear sign that the provincial assembly is treated like a “dumb child”. He said that if the statute is not confirmed there will be political destabilization in Serbia, which is a scenario that works in the favor of those that want early parliamentary elections, which his part opposes. The ethnic Hungarian leader reminded that the parliament has already violated the constitutional deadline for confirming the statute, which expired on Dec. 31, 2008, adding that he believes further delays of the parliament debate on this subject are to be expected. The Serbian Orthodox Church, some opposition parties, but also some from the ruling coalition have all recently spoken against the adoption of the draft statute in its present form. "Vojvodina won’t be able to pass laws" According to daily Blic, the biggest change in the draft Vojvodina statute will be taking away the province’s ability to pass its own laws. The daily writes that there will be a compromise solution with the formulation that system laws will enable Vojvodina to make decisions on its own with the authority it is given, but that those will still be a sub-legal act. A source from the ruling coalition told the daily that this will be a main topic of discussion between coalition partners, adding that this was debated recently by the Democratic Party (DS) presidency. It was agreed at the DS meeting that the provision of legislative activity for the Vojvodina assembly would easily be overturned by the Constitutional Court, and that it needed to be changed. “A compromise solution was proposed, for the system laws to give Vojvodina the possibility to, in the sectors allowed by the Constitution, make determine on how the decisions stemming from those laws will be implemented on its territory,” the source from the Democrats told newspaper. The source claims that there was a discussion on whether the changes could be made through amendments in parliament, but it was decided that the Vojvodina assembly should do it, because it was stated that "since Bojan Pajtic and Svetozar Ciplic created the statute, they should be the ones to change it as well".

"Democrats to blame for statute fiasco"

Pastor specified that there is a faction within the DS that wants the statute to be adopted because that would be in accordance with the party’s election promises regarding Vojvodina's autonomy and the need for regionalization and decentralization in Serbia.

However, he said that there are those in that party who want to “demonize everything related to Vojvodina”.

Pastor is against the idea of returning the statute to the Vojvodina assembly for changes and said that this is a clear sign that the provincial assembly is treated like a “dumb child”.

He said that if the statute is not confirmed there will be political destabilization in Serbia, which is a scenario that works in the favor of those that want early parliamentary elections, which his part opposes.

The ethnic Hungarian leader reminded that the parliament has already violated the constitutional deadline for confirming the statute, which expired on Dec. 31, 2008, adding that he believes further delays of the parliament debate on this subject are to be expected.

The Serbian Orthodox Church, some opposition parties, but also some from the ruling coalition have all recently spoken against the adoption of the draft statute in its present form.

"Vojvodina won’t be able to pass laws"

According to daily Blic, the biggest change in the draft Vojvodina statute will be taking away the province’s ability to pass its own laws.

The daily writes that there will be a compromise solution with the formulation that system laws will enable Vojvodina to make decisions on its own with the authority it is given, but that those will still be a sub-legal act.

A source from the ruling coalition told the daily that this will be a main topic of discussion between coalition partners, adding that this was debated recently by the Democratic Party (DS) presidency.

It was agreed at the DS meeting that the provision of legislative activity for the Vojvodina assembly would easily be overturned by the Constitutional Court, and that it needed to be changed.

“A compromise solution was proposed, for the system laws to give Vojvodina the possibility to, in the sectors allowed by the Constitution, make determine on how the decisions stemming from those laws will be implemented on its territory,” the source from the Democrats told newspaper.

The source claims that there was a discussion on whether the changes could be made through amendments in parliament, but it was decided that the Vojvodina assembly should do it, because it was stated that "since Bojan Pajtić and Svetozar Čiplić created the statute, they should be the ones to change it as well".