Dacic wants international organizations to speak on constitutional amendments

NEWS 27.05.202112:19
Tanjug/Tara Radovanović

Parliament Speaker Ivica Dacic on Thursday called international organizations and diplomats to say whether they want to see changes to the parts of the Serbian constitution covering the judiciary.

Dacic called officials of the European Union, Council of Europe, OSCE and Western diplomats to voice their views clearly and inform opposition parties opposed to the proposed changes. He told a public hearing on the constitutional amendments that he does not want that issue, which he said is a condition for Serbia to achieve progress in the process of European integration, to turn into a political battle between the authorities and opposition. “This is not about a political battle but about independence of the judiciary,” Dacic said. “The paradox is that parliament wants the changes the most while judges and prosecutors are not supporting them. We get most of the criticism from the people who this concerns,” he said.

Dacic added that the EU officials were speaking up even though the amendments are in line with EU recommendations.

The public hearing was attended by represenatives of the EU Delegation, Council of Europe, OSCE, and the embassies of the United States, Great Britain, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Finland.