Eurasia Press & News
Deputies in the Serbian Parliament last night adopted a controversial Anti-discrimination law and will consider amendments to the same law today.
Deputies adopted the law around midnight, but without discussing all proposed amendments, after the time for the debate had expired. A total of 446 amendments were submitted to the draft law, of which the government adopted six.
During the debate, Serb Radical Party and Democratic Party of Serbia MPs criticized the law, claiming that it did not safeguard the rights of all marginalized groups. During the four-hour discussion, the most heated debate centered on articles concerning sexual orientation.
Opponents were outspoken in their criticism, indicating they would not vote for the law.
Those who supported the law, deputies from three of the four ruling coalition parties, the Democratic Party, the Socialist Party of Serbia and G17, and opposition Liberal Democratic Party deputies, insisted that it will protect the most vulnerable groups.
Deputies of “United Serbia”, a member of the ruling coalition, decided not to vote for the law, following a statement by party leader Dragan Markovic Palma that he would rather go back to the countryside and be a shepherd than to be led into the European Union by homosexuals.
The anti-discrimination law was the last on the list of laws that Serbia had to adopt in order to accede to the “white Schengen list”.
