Back Serbia: Venice Commission welcomes constitutional amendments, recommends improvements, calls for the continued involvement of opposition

Serbia: Venice Commission welcomes constitutional amendments, recommends improvements, calls for the continued involvement of opposition

The initiative of the Serbian authorities to bring the 2006 Constitution in line with European and international standards, albeit only on the part of the judiciary, is to be welcomed, but the parliamentary opposition should continue to be involved in the constitutional reform process. Besides, there is room for improvement on the substance, notably concerning the election and the composition of the High Judicial and High Prosecutorial Councils, said the Council of Europe’s body of constitutional law experts, the Venice Commission, in its opinion on the draft constitutional amendments on the judiciary in Serbia published today.

“In comparison to the situation in 2018, there currently appears to be the necessary political momentum in Serbia to achieve a satisfactory result”, said the Venice Commission. It noted that the process of public consultations for these draft amendments could be characterised as “sufficiently inclusive and transparent”.

However, in the context of the current Serbian political landscape – with a one-party majority in the National Assembly and the absence of the parliamentary opposition – there is a strong need to adopt an inclusive approach, in order to reach as broad a legitimacy for the constitutional reform as possible among all institutional actors and all political forces in Serbia. “It is therefore important for the Serbian authorities to actively seek the participation and involvement of the opposition,” the Venice Commission argues.

On substance, the Venice Commission welcomes, inter alia, the introduction of the principle of non-transferability of judges, functional immunity for judges and prosecutors, the removal of the probationary period for judges and prosecutors, the provision according to which the High Judicial Council will no longer be dissolved if it does not render a decision within 30 days and, most importantly, the removal of the competence from the National Assembly to elect court presidents, the Republic Public Prosecutor and public prosecutors and to decide on the termination of their office as well as to elect judges and the deputy public prosecutors.

To improve the draft amendments, the Council of Europe experts recommend, inter alia, reconsidering the composition of the five-member commission, which constitutes the anti-deadlock mechanism that is supposed to elect members of the High Judicial Council and the High Prosecutorial Council in case the National Assembly fails to timely elect them. “There is a danger that the anti-deadlock mechanism meant to be an exception becomes the rule and allows politicized appointments,” warns the Venice Commission stressing the need to encourage consensus.

While welcoming the proposal for the High Judicial Council (HJC) to be composed of 11 members, the Venice Commission recalls that pursuant to European standards, no less than half of its members should be judges appointed by their peers. Besides, while the two-thirds majority requirement in the parliamentary vote on the HJC is welcome and should be kept, eligibility criteria designed to reduce the risk of politicisation should be added.

There are now fewer prosecutors in the High Prosecutorial Council than in the past – this is not to be recommended, says the Venice Commission, calling for more public prosecutors elected by their peers in its composition.

With respect to the time constraints that are partly due to the planned dissolution of the current National Assembly in view of holding early elections in the spring of 2022 – the Venice Commission reiterates that it is not its role to solve these time constraints.

However, it is crucial for the Serbian authorities to amend, by way of priority, the Law on the Referendum in line with the recent Venice Commission’s recommendations, as this Law will be applicable to the constitutional referendum to be organised after the adoption of the draft constitutional amendments.

The opinion was prepared under the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism in the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.

Strasbourg 18 October 2021
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Šta je Mehanizam za koordinaciju ekspertiza?

Mehanizam za koordinaciju ekspertiza služi za pružanje zakonodavne ekspertize i savjetodavnih mišljenja u okviru sistema Savjeta Evrope, o javnim politikama u oblastima osnaživanja pravde, suzbijanja privrednog kriminala, borbe protiv diskriminacije i promovisanja i zaštite slobode izražavanja i slobode medija, te ustavnim pitanjima koja spadaju u mandat Evropske komisije za demokratiju putem zakona (poznate kao Venecijanska komisija). Ovakva ekspertiza se pruža uz potpuno uvažavanje nezavisnosti i funkcionalnih specifičnosti mehanizama praćenja Savjeta Evrope i pruža ključnu podršku procesima pridruživanja EU.

Ukoliko se neki od projekata u okviru programa Horizontal Facility bavi temom pod kojom postoji potreba za ekspertizom, zahtjev za ekspertsko mišljenje se može obezbijediti direktno kroz projekat.

 

Ko može da podnese zahtjev za dobijanje stručnog mišljenja u sklopu Mehanizma za koordinaciju ekspertiza?

Ministri/ministarke (i drugi članovi/članice vlade), predsjednik/predsjednica parlamenta, šefovi ili šefice parlamentarnih komiteta, institucije ombudsmana ili nezavisne državne institucije Albanije, Bosne i Hercegovine, Kosova*, Crne Gore, Sjeverne Makedonije, Srbije i Turske, mogu da podnesu zahtjev za stručno mišljenje u sklopu Mehanizma za koordinaciju ekspertiza.

Osim toga, kada je riječ o pitanjima koja spadaju u oblast nadležnosti Venecijanske komisije, zahtjev za pružanje pomoći u okviru Mehanizma takođe mogu da podnesu i Evropska unija, kao i organi Savjeta Evrope (npr. generalni sekretar, Komitet ministara, Parlamentarna skupština i Kongres lokalnih i regionalnih vlasti).

Pored toga, ustavni sudovi korisnica programa mogu podnijeti zahtjeve za izdavanje amicus curiae uputstava Venecijanske komisije.

*Ovaj naziv je bez prejudiciranja statusa, i u skladu je sa Rezolucijom Savjeta bezbjednosti Ujedinjenih nacija 1244 i mišljenjem Međunarodnog suda pravde o Deklaraciji o nezavisnosti Kosova.