Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

New Constitution to enable Serbia's stability, development

Belgrade, 17 October 2006

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica met today with Rector of the Belgrade University Dejan Popovic, faculty deans and professors and said that no other constitution had been adopted by having more than half of the people voting for it at a referendum. He added that this very feature will mark the new Constitution as the people's Constitution.

Kostunica said he believes that after the referendum the new Constitution will bring stability to Serbia, adding that it is also a compromise Constitution which is why no one will be able to associate it with one person, one party or one government.

Speaking about reasons for the adoption of the new Constitution, Kostunica pointed out that the circumstances, such as talks on Kosovo-Metohija status and Montenegro's independence, helped speed up the draft process for this supreme legal act.

He stressed the need to clearly define the future status of Kosovo-Metohija in the new Constitution and explained that the need to define the province as a constituent part of Serbia emerged during the talks on its future status held under the mediatorship of UN Envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

This was necessary because of the historical facts and our internal law, as well as in order to confirm the respect of international law and its principles, said Kostunica and recalled that the essential international principle is none other than the respect of a country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Serbia respects such European orientation, therefore a large number of laws have been adopted after consulting European institutions, the EU and OSCE, said the Prime Minister. He specified that the new Constitution has 206 articles and 101,450 letters, unlike the current one with 135 articles and 50,503 letters.

Speaking about the contents of the new Constitution, Kostunica recalled that it comprises strong elements of judicial independence and decentralisation of authority through provincial autonomy and local self-government.

According to Kostunica, when it comes to the section dealing with economic order, the reforms are nothing short of revolutionary, especially concerning the forms of property ownership, the future of private property and foreigners' declaration regarding property rights.

Kostunica said that as for human rights, he is most impressed by ethnic minority rights section where there are numerous new solutions in line with EU standards.

Speaking about the structure of authorities and human rights, he said that in comparison with the old constitution, the new one has more detailed provisions which will help fortify the guarantees of individual and collective rights.

He said he regrets that there was not more time for public debate of the Constitution, but recalled that in a way, this document was under discussion since the changes of October 2000.

According to Kostunica, qualified members of the public debated the Constitution from October 2000, whereas parliament discussed it since March this year.

The new Constitution has "strong elements" of discontinuity with the previous one, said the Prime Minister and added that the 1990 Constitution was adopted by a single-party parliament, whereas this one will have to be confirmed by more than half of registered voters.

He said that the new Constitution will strengthen judicial independence and local self-government, improve minority rights and introduce many new elements such as the ombudsman, conscientious objection and the conflict of interest.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Science and Environmental Protection Aleksandar Popovic, Minister of Education and Sport Slobodan Vuksanovic, Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Zoran Loncar, Rector of the Belgrade University Dejan Popovic and deans and professors from 31 faculties who voiced support for the new Constitution of Serbia.