Vojvodina assembly to debate Statute

The Vojvodina assembly will today discuss the adoption of the Autonomous Province’s draft Statute. The provincial assembly is due to adopt the draft by Wednesday, after which it has to be adopted by the state parliament. Vojvodina assembly to debate Statute Vojvodina Assembly Speaker Sandor Ergesi and President of the Vojvodina Executive Council Bojan Pajtic expect the Statute to be adopted by two-thirds of the representatives in the assembly, and that it also will receive sufficient support in the national parliament. They say that the draft is completely in line with the Serbian Constitution. Leaders of the provincial administration told journalists that they expected Vojvodina’s supreme legal act to be adopted by a two-thirds majority. Pajtic says that there is also a majority in the national parliament who back the bill. “The MPs who vote [today] represent the same parties that sit in the national parliament. They have more than 140 MPs in the Serbian parliament. So it is a large and convincing majority. I don’t expect a situation where a party that supported the draft in the provincial assembly won’t do so in the Serbian parliament,” he said. The opposition, primarily the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the Serb Radical Party (SRS), lodged a large number of objections to the draft during the debate, announcing that they would be proposing over 100 amendments to the bill at the assembly’s session. Ergesi denies allegations that the Statute goes beyond Vojvodina’s Constitutional jurisdiction, adding that during the public debate on the draft, a large number of amendments, submitted by experts, had been adopted. “I can safely say that the draft does not go beyond the Constitutional framework. The statute is a reality. By adopting suggestions made by the citizens, NGOs, provincial organizations and the secretariat, we have changed more than half of the original draft. We have incorporated legal and economic expert’s opinions into the draft, as well as those of experts in the field of social affairs and others,” Egeresi says. Serbia’s Constitution states that once the draft has been adopted in Vojvodina, it should be passed on to the national parliament. If adopted there, the Statute of Vojvodina would then be proclaimed in the provincial assembly.

Vojvodina assembly to debate Statute

Vojvodina Assembly Speaker Šandor Ergeši and President of the Vojvodina Executive Council Bojan Pajtić expect the Statute to be adopted by two-thirds of the representatives in the assembly, and that it also will receive sufficient support in the national parliament.

They say that the draft is completely in line with the Serbian Constitution.

Leaders of the provincial administration told journalists that they expected Vojvodina’s supreme legal act to be adopted by a two-thirds majority.

Pajtić says that there is also a majority in the national parliament who back the bill.

“The MPs who vote [today] represent the same parties that sit in the national parliament. They have more than 140 MPs in the Serbian parliament. So it is a large and convincing majority. I don’t expect a situation where a party that supported the draft in the provincial assembly won’t do so in the Serbian parliament,” he said.

The opposition, primarily the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the Serb Radical Party (SRS), lodged a large number of objections to the draft during the debate, announcing that they would be proposing over 100 amendments to the bill at the assembly’s session.

Ergeši denies allegations that the Statute goes beyond Vojvodina’s Constitutional jurisdiction, adding that during the public debate on the draft, a large number of amendments, submitted by experts, had been adopted.

“I can safely say that the draft does not go beyond the Constitutional framework. The statute is a reality. By adopting suggestions made by the citizens, NGOs, provincial organizations and the secretariat, we have changed more than half of the original draft. We have incorporated legal and economic expert’s opinions into the draft, as well as those of experts in the field of social affairs and others,” Egereši says.

Serbia’s Constitution states that once the draft has been adopted in Vojvodina, it should be passed on to the national parliament.

If adopted there, the Statute of Vojvodina would then be proclaimed in the provincial assembly.