Vojvodina statute one step closer

SERBIA

The Parliamentary Legislative Committee says that the draft law on the transfer of Vojvodina’s authorities is ready.

The bill, which is necessary for the Vojvodina statute to be enacted, will come before the government for adoption very soon.

The Vojvodina statute was enacted by the provincial assembly and passed to the national parliament for ratification almost a year ago, since which time talks have been ongoing on the drafting of the law on the transfer of Vojvodina’s authorities.

“The text of the draft law has been calibrated. That process took time, involving the parallel government ministries and the organs of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. According to that information, the text has been finalized and I expect it to come before the government soon and be passed on to parliament,“ explained Legislative Committee Chairman Vlatko Ratković.

The Vojvodina assembly says that it is ready to effect technical changes to the statute in the space of 24 hours, once the government adopts the authorities bill.

Balint Pastor of the Union Vojvodina Hungarians expects the statute to be debated this month, and in November at the latest.

“Talks are under way between provincial and republic officials, and Democratic Party ministers. Provincial secretaries were also involved in that whole business in the early stages. We’ll see what the final text is like, and see whether the text is acceptable to us,“ he said.

However, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) say they do not know whether the authorities bill is ready.

“We expressed certain reserves regarding the earlier draft to the working group a month and a half ago. We expect the process to result in a text that is consonant with the Serbian Constitution,“ says Branko Ružić .

A three-member working group, including ministers from G17 Plus, the Democratic Party and the SPS, is working on the authorities bill.