Discussions start on Vojvodina statute

NOVI SAD - Discussions on a joint position on the new statute of Vojvodina have started in the assembly of Serbia's northern province to define its constitutional status.

The draft statute has been drawn up by a group of experts appointed by the competent committee of the provincial assembly to align the provisions of the act with the Serbian constitution.

On December 5 last year, two thirds of the provisions of the provincial statute were declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Serbia, which set a six-month deadline for it to be conformed to the Constitution to avoid putting the work of provincial institutions in jeopardy in the meantime.

The Constitutional Court deemed unconstitutional the provisions that define the statute as a constitutive act under which the autonomous province of Vojvodina may regulate any matter that it sees as being of interest to it, irrespective of the fact that the matter is regulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia.

Also declared unconstitutional were provisions taken over from the law on Vojvodina's competences - which had previously also been declared unconstitutional - as well as provisions stipulating new competences or competences that differ from those established by the law.

According to the draft of the new statute, which has been published on the website of the provincial assembly, the act has no preamble - a feature of the Constitution and specific laws, rather than by-laws such as the statute.

Amendments to the statute essentially mean that Vojvodina does not have a government, but an Executive Council that implements the assembly's decisions, but alternatives such as the "Provincial Council of Ministers" have also been...