http://glassrbije.org/E/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4563&Itemid=27
NEW DRAFT STATUTE OF VOJVODINA 02.10.2008 The public debate on the new draft of the statute of Vojvodina has been concluded. Some experts claim that it is against the constitution, as it creates a state within a state, but on the positive side it does provide essential autonomy within Serbia. The strongest criticism came from the Democratic Party of Serbia and its leader Vojislav Kostunica, who says that this endangers the legal and constitutional order. Those proposing the draft, the Coalition for A European Vojvodina, the Hungarian Coalition, the LSV Together for Vojvodina and the MP group around the Socialist Party of Serbia claim that this will determine the status of Vojvodina in accordance with the Serbian constitution. More by Djuro Malobabic. President of the Executive Council of Vojvodina, Bojan Pajtic, said that he cannot imagine the Serbian Assembly rejecting the Draft Status of Vojvodina as this would create a constitutional crisis. ‘Legally, the state parliament does not have a deadline for passing the Statute, but I believe that realistically it will be passed by the end of the year’, said Pajtic. Denying claims of the opposition that this was an attempt of the current Vojvodina government to provide the highest level of autonomy for Vojvodina in its history, Pajtic claims that this statute is far from the Serbian constitution of 1974. The former constitution gave the northern Serbian province legislative powers, courts and police, provincial insurance funds, and there is none of that in this draft, said Pajtic. According to the draft, the Vojvodina Assembly passes decisions in accordance with the Constitution and laws, but not laws themselves and decides on matters relating to the province. The province would have its own flag and coat of arms, and the Executive Council would in future be known as the provincial government. President of the Vojvodina Assembly Sandor Egeres, underlined that the proposed draft represents a big departure from the previous legal, institutional and political situation. At a round table on decentralization of Serbia organized by the Center for Regionalism, Egeres had stressed that there were no separatist tendencies in Vojvodina, but rather support to a European Serbia, a European Vojvodina, economic and political development of Serbia and Vojvodina. Professor of constitutional law at the Belgrade Faculty of Law, Ratko Markovic had at the same gathering disputed the draft, assessing that it separates Vojvodina from Serbia in its provisions on territory, official language, alphabet, capital city and international subjectivity of the province. He added that the proposed draft introduces a parliamentary decision which has the weight of a law in the territory of Vojvodina, which exceeds the importance of the statute as a bylaw harmonized with the state constitution and laws. President of the Democratic Party of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica, also underlined that Vojvodina’s autonomy cannot be extended through a provincial statue beyond the limits set by the Serbian constitution, adding that this party would fight by all legal means against this draft being passed. Kostunica said that this was a document which establishes elements of statehood of Vojvodina, i.e. federalization of Serbia in a way that was done with the constitution from 1974, and which according to him, had created the institutional conditions for the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. According to Deputy President of the Serbian Radical Party Dragan Todorovic, the passing of this draft would be the first step towards a new disintegration of Serbia, lead by the EU and US. Vojvodina will indirectly through the new statute have legislative, executive and court authority, underlined Todorovic. The ruling coalition in Vojvodina announced a debate on the statute in the provincial parliament for October 14th, after which, if it is passed, the draft would be forwarded for discussion to the Serbian Assembly.
