If in mid-April, when the procedure for changing the Constitution was officially launched, you did not understand why it was necessary, after seven public hearings where the same people said more or less the same things, you might conclude that the way judges are elected is changing due to Chapter 23. And that is something that the Minister repeated in every single introductory remark.  

“The change of the Constitution in the area of justice is a condition for further reform of the legal system and the most significant reform in the field of rule of law, which is the cornerstone of any democratic society and one of the priorities of EU policy. With this in mind, the Republic of Serbia pays great attention to fulfilling the obligations contained in Chapter 23.“

There is no answer to the question what is wrong with the Serbian judiciary, whether there is pressure coerced on judges, whether citizens get justice easily and quickly. It was important to emphasise every single time that the subject of the change is not the preamble on Kosovo and Metohija, so at the last public hearing, some MPs arrived from Belgrade to Kragujevac  to explain all this once again. The aftertaste that the Constitution was being changed reluctantly remained. And still, why would someone be bothered if the Assembly elects the judiciary?

“I must emphasise that these constitutional provisions concern exclusively the judiciary. Amending provisions in the Preamble is out of question, changing the borders is out of question.“

“As far as our southern Serbian province is concerned, there is still no dilemma, these changes to the Constitution do not concern Kosovo and Metohija.“

“I am in the company of renowned judges here. Have any of you ever made an illegal decision at the request of a politician, or anyone else just because they were elected by the National Assembly? Of course, the answer is no, but well… these are some constitutional changes that we want to implement. However, the independence of our judiciary and the objectivity of our judiciary are visibly backed by this year’s unprecedented avant-garde verdict: the one passed against the President of the Republic of Serbia.

“I can tell you that it sometimes offends me when a foreign country puts an objection to us, blames us, because our court, fences in any village, or in a Serbian household may be older than their state. However, we should have something else in mind, we are asking to join the EU, the EU is not asking to join Serbia.“

That is why the answer of the Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, from one of the earlier public hearings, is still relevant – no-one is forcing you.

“Before I start, I would just like to remind you of something – and that is that Serbia has voluntarily decided to start the EU accession process. After that, Serbia committed itself and took over the obligations in 2016, and that was expressed in concrete activities “

In anticipation of the special session on changing the Constitution, we have to acknowledge that public hearings did take place in four cities, so this form was also fulfilled.

For the Open Parliament, Mirjana Nikolić