Vojvodina statute "expected to be blocked"

The ruling coalition will most likely block the adoption in parliament of the Vojvodina statute for some period of time, daily Danas writes. Because of the inability for the ruling coalition to reach an agreement on adopting the document in the form in which it was adopted by the Vojvodina assembly, with some believing that too much authority is being given to the province, the statute will probably be blocked for some period of time, the daily's sources with the coalition said. Vojvodina statute "expected to be blocked" The sources from Novi Sad and Belgrade claim that the blockade came in disagreements between the ruling Democratic Party (DS) headquarters in Belgrade and its boards in Vojvodina. A number of ministers and party leaders in Belgrade are not content with all the regulations of the statute draft which would give Vojvodina exclusive powers, considerably higher than what is given to other regions. They are calling for the Law on Jurisdiction to be used to drastically change in the statute draft, which Vojvodina officials are against, as are officials of the League of Vojvodina Social Democrats (LSV) and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM), according to the newspaper. The latter two parties support the government in parliament. The draft legislation for transferring jurisdiction to Vojvodina has been at the State Secretariat for Legislature for the past ten days, however – not because of work on legal details, but because the government is trying to postpone the process and then block the final adoption of the statute, the daily writes. At the same time, according to unofficial information carried by some media, the European Commission is sending warnings to Belgrade that “further postponement of the adoption of the Vojvodina statute by the Serbian parliament represents a violation of the Constitutional Law, which calls for the statute to be adopted by the end of 2008. The existing debate shows that there is a lack of honest political consensus for the decentralization of Serbia". Parliamentary Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic said that the statute draft will be one of the topics of the parliamentary session on Friday, when MP questions will be on the agenda.

Vojvodina statute "expected to be blocked"

The sources from Novi Sad and Belgrade claim that the blockade came in disagreements between the ruling Democratic Party (DS) headquarters in Belgrade and its boards in Vojvodina.

A number of ministers and party leaders in Belgrade are not content with all the regulations of the statute draft which would give Vojvodina exclusive powers, considerably higher than what is given to other regions.

They are calling for the Law on Jurisdiction to be used to drastically change in the statute draft, which Vojvodina officials are against, as are officials of the League of Vojvodina Social Democrats (LSV) and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM), according to the newspaper. The latter two parties support the government in parliament.

The draft legislation for transferring jurisdiction to Vojvodina has been at the State Secretariat for Legislature for the past ten days, however – not because of work on legal details, but because the government is trying to postpone the process and then block the final adoption of the statute, the daily writes.

At the same time, according to unofficial information carried by some media, the European Commission is sending warnings to Belgrade that “further postponement of the adoption of the Vojvodina statute by the Serbian parliament represents a violation of the Constitutional Law, which calls for the statute to be adopted by the end of 2008. The existing debate shows that there is a lack of honest political consensus for the decentralization of Serbia".

Parliamentary Speaker Slavica Đukić-Dejanović said that the statute draft will be one of the topics of the parliamentary session on Friday, when MP questions will be on the agenda.