It seems that the Code of Conduct will be applied only to the opposition when there is one, and nobody is satisfied with the judiciary. In the new episode of #Couplet Chorus Rebuttals listen in which atmosphere was marked The first sitting of the First regular session.

It seems that the Code of Conduct will only apply to the opposition, when there is one, and that no one is satisfied with the judiciary. In the new episode of #CoupletChorusReplica, you will be able to sense the atmosphere in which the first sitting of the spring session took place. 

In December, when MPs voted in favour of the Code of Conduct, they seem to have thought it would only apply to the opposition, when there is one. For now, the MP of the Serbian Progressive Party, Nebojša Bakarec, has gone to great lengths to make the Code meaningless, since he declared that the lunch of the former head of the Security Intelligence Agency with an opposition leader was a conspiracy against the President Vučić. 

“Imagine that the former head of the Federal Security Service is meeting with Navalny. Do you know how it's solved in Russia? Well, in Russia you’d be gone that’s how it’s solved, because it's something you simply don’t do.”

When the reactions appeared in the public, the Speaker of the Parliament, Ivica Dačić, explained that Bakarec had not threatened anyone.

 ”I wanted to say that because people may not have listened to what was said, and from the titles that are now appearing, saying that Bakarec threatened with death, that the opposition should be killed, I quote, as in Russia. So I want to say that is not true. If that were really the case, we would certainly not have allowed it, nor would Mr. Bakarec, I think, have said such things.”

On the second day of the sitting, the election of the 31st new judge passed, as usual, without a single word about the new judges. At the beginning, MP Jelena Žarić Kovačević told the young judges that they must respect the laws.

“And you must be certain that you will be able to ensure independence, impartiality in your work and that you will be able stand behind verdicts that are reached in the name of the people and not in the name of a political party or of anyone who has delegated you to that position.”

The judiciary must be independent, but the question is of whom, added Milenko Jovanov.

“I cannot accept that the judiciary is independent if it is independent of the Government of Serbia, but at the same time dependent on foreign governments. I cannot accept that an independent judge attacks the Government or Vučić in the media every day but then stands before the foreign embassies like a dog and wags his tail when they let him at the reception and give him three canapés and two cocktails.”

Marjan Rističević is not satisfied with the judiciary either, especially since the attack on him during the opposition protest was characterised as aggressive behaviour in a group.

“I was attacked at the entrance to the National Assembly as an MP. But, look, someone kicked a stray dog somewhere in Slavija square, right? That action, which I condemn, resulted in the arrest of a perpetrator. Will any of the judges and prosecutors explain to me that my rights are inferior to those of stray dogs?”

Criticism of the judiciary comes also from Aleksandar Mirković, as it does not react when the security of Vučić’s family is endangered.

“As long as Aleksandar Vučić has a subordinate role and his rights are not respected just because he is a representative of the Serbian Progressive Party, we will have a problem and we will not have the citizens’ full trust in the judiciary and the prosecution.”

For the Open Parliament Mirjana Nikolić.