“It is meaningless to change Constitution”

BELGRADE A request to change the Constitution is legal nonsense, Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader Vojislav Kostunica has stated. He once again repeated that the Constitutional Court of Serbia’s decision to declare certain regulations of the Law on Establishing Jurisdiction of Vojvodina unconstitutional was historic. “It is meaningless to change Constitution” “The most important state and national goal now is to preserve the Constitution that is keeping the country together. The Constitution is an important state bill, especially the one from 2006 and one should not play with it,” Kostunica told daily Politika. He explained that “Serbia as a state is facing serious challenges, its territorial integrity has been questioned, primarily when it comes to Kosovo but also to attempts to internationalize the issue of Vojvodina. Therefore, since things are like that, then there is a need to keep the Constitution which is a dam against disintegration of the state”. “The Constitutional Court of Serbia’s decision to annul unconstitutional parts Vojvodina jurisdiction is historic. The request to change to Constitution to accommodate the separatist Statute is legal nonsense. The call for internationalization is even worse because it would be an open call for destruction of the state. This would mean destruction of the rule of law in Serbia and looking for some solution, which is not legal, outside Serbia. We should bear in mind that we have a serious and well-backed decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia. Everybody who is loud and explicit in their disqualifications of the Constitutional Court’s decision claim that the problem is in the Constitution and that it should be changed. So it turns out that the Constitution should be changed because it is anti-constitutional, however, the law has its hierarchy and does not allow this kind of arbitrariness,” he was quoted as saying. Commenting on the coalition agreement signed between the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and United Regions of Serbia (URS) which reads that the Constitution would be changed “due to the regionalization and decentralization needs”, he said that the current Constitution allowed a certain kind of decentralization. “When we as a party decided to support Tomislav Nikolic in the second round of the presidential election, we paid special attention that a regulation that the SNS and DSS would act together when it comes to the change of the Constitution is put in the agreement on cooperation of MP groups in parliament. We should keep in mind that the idea of regionalization can lead to disintegration of the country now. I think that a real decentralization model should be carried out through local authorities and big cities. This is the right model for a state of this size, everything else can lead to disintegration,” Kostunica concluded. Vojislav Kostunica (Beta, file) Politika

“It is meaningless to change Constitution”

“The most important state and national goal now is to preserve the Constitution that is keeping the country together. The Constitution is an important state bill, especially the one from 2006 and one should not play with it,” Koštunica told daily Politika.

He explained that “Serbia as a state is facing serious challenges, its territorial integrity has been questioned, primarily when it comes to Kosovo but also to attempts to internationalize the issue of Vojvodina. Therefore, since things are like that, then there is a need to keep the Constitution which is a dam against disintegration of the state”.

“The Constitutional Court of Serbia’s decision to annul unconstitutional parts Vojvodina jurisdiction is historic. The request to change to Constitution to accommodate the separatist Statute is legal nonsense. The call for internationalization is even worse because it would be an open call for destruction of the state. This would mean destruction of the rule of law in Serbia and looking for some solution, which is not legal, outside Serbia. We should bear in mind that we have a serious and well-backed decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia. Everybody who is loud and explicit in their disqualifications of the Constitutional Court’s decision claim that the problem is in the Constitution and that it should be changed. So it turns out that the Constitution should be changed because it is anti-constitutional, however, the law has its hierarchy and does not allow this kind of arbitrariness,” he was quoted as saying.

Commenting on the coalition agreement signed between the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and United Regions of Serbia (URS) which reads that the Constitution would be changed “due to the regionalization and decentralization needs”, he said that the current Constitution allowed a certain kind of decentralization.

“When we as a party decided to support Tomislav Nikolić in the second round of the presidential election, we paid special attention that a regulation that the SNS and DSS would act together when it comes to the change of the Constitution is put in the agreement on cooperation of MP groups in parliament. We should keep in mind that the idea of regionalization can lead to disintegration of the country now. I think that a real decentralization model should be carried out through local authorities and big cities. This is the right model for a state of this size, everything else can lead to disintegration,” Koštunica concluded.