Presidential laws undergoing procedure

Parliament has completed its joint debate on proposed laws on the president and on elections for the president. Discussions over amendments to these government proposals will begin tomorrow. Presidential laws undergoing procedure Parliament will not work today, as according to the Rulebook, there ought to be a 24 hour interval between the initial debate and the debate on amendments. Parliamentary Speaker Oliver Dulic said that he expected Parliament to complete its work on these laws by next week, when the budget is due for debate. “I hope we’ll finish the presidential laws by the end of the week so that we can get started on that. Wecve certainly got a lot of work ahead of us, a large number of amendments have been suggested for those laws, there’ll be a lot more next week, but I’m sure that, provided we knuckle down, we can adopt all those laws,“ said Dulic. Public Administration and Local Self-Government Minister Milan Markovic said that the debate had gone very well and that a certain number of amendments were expected to be approved owing to terminological uncertainty. “The law regulates the subject matter very well, both the post of president, which is defined by the Constitution, and has now been developed with the draft law, and the election of the president. I think that, in practice, both laws will give good results, and that there won’t be any confusion when it comes to their application,“ said Markovic. The minister said that his ministry had prepared the draft laws on local self-government, and had done so in three versions. “We’ve done everything that could be expected of us. The government needs to decide which of those laws will undergo procedure, and there the ministry can do no more. I hope they’ll come before Parliament before December 31, otherwise constitutional provisions will be left without a legal form, and elections will have to be called according to the existing laws,“ he said. Serb Radical Party and Socialist Party of Serbia MPs have announced that they will not support the proposed bills, while the Liberal Democratic Party says it will back the laws, provided that the new amendments are adopted. Presidential elections cannot be called without adoption of the aforesaid laws.

Presidential laws undergoing procedure

Parliament will not work today, as according to the Rulebook, there ought to be a 24 hour interval between the initial debate and the debate on amendments. Parliamentary Speaker Oliver Dulić said that he expected Parliament to complete its work on these laws by next week, when the budget is due for debate.

“I hope we’ll finish the presidential laws by the end of the week so that we can get started on that. Wećve certainly got a lot of work ahead of us, a large number of amendments have been suggested for those laws, there’ll be a lot more next week, but I’m sure that, provided we knuckle down, we can adopt all those laws,“ said Dulić.

Public Administration and Local Self-Government Minister Milan Marković said that the debate had gone very well and that a certain number of amendments were expected to be approved owing to terminological uncertainty.

“The law regulates the subject matter very well, both the post of president, which is defined by the Constitution, and has now been developed with the draft law, and the election of the president. I think that, in practice, both laws will give good results, and that there won’t be any confusion when it comes to their application,“ said Marković.

The minister said that his ministry had prepared the draft laws on local self-government, and had done so in three versions. “We’ve done everything that could be expected of us. The government needs to decide which of those laws will undergo procedure, and there the ministry can do no more. I hope they’ll come before Parliament before December 31, otherwise constitutional provisions will be left without a legal form, and elections will have to be called according to the existing laws,“ he said.

Serb Radical Party and Socialist Party of Serbia MPs have announced that they will not support the proposed bills, while the Liberal Democratic Party says it will back the laws, provided that the new amendments are adopted.

Presidential elections cannot be called without adoption of the aforesaid laws.