CHANGING THE CONSTITUTION ON THE WAY TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

Since one of the most controversial questions of the Constitution in force is its legitimacy, EMinS intends to continue previously initiated informed and inclusive debate about the aspect of the necessary revision of the highest legal act in Serbia in the context of EU accession negotiations. There is a new important factor that affects the materialization of a constitutional revision, namely the opening of negotiations for membership of Serbia in the EU and the need to fulfill obligations arising out of the Negotiation position and of the Action Plan for chapter 23, adopted by the Government of Serbia, that prescribes that Serbia will change the Constitution in 2017 in order to align its Constitution with EU standards on independence of the judiciary. This Constitutional reform in the context of EU accession negotiations process will have a direct impact on the sovereignty of a country, and has to be made with the outmost care and general consensus, if Serbian membership in the EU would be the source of stability of the state and the society.

Goal

To contribute to the consensus-building, transparency and legitimacy of the future, necessary revision of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia in the context of EU accession negotiations process through inclusive and open public debate, based on concrete policy proposals and recommendations.

Activities

Setting up of project and expert team

Project team will be composed of one project manager and one project assistant, while the expert team will consist of four experts. Members of the expert team will be identified and contacted by project team members and include respectful professionals in the field of Constitutional Law and Political System with solid track record within existing initiatives for Constitutional revision. Also, EMinS will include its own research capacities, i.e. members of Research Forum (RF), the EMinS think-tank unit.

Research

Creation of four (4) policy papers – The expert team will work on development of policy analysis in order to define concrete proposals and recommendations for Constitutional amendments arising from obligations and rights of the future EU membership. The results will be presented in a form of four evidence based policy papers dealing with different topics: Reform of the Judiciary, Separation and Control of Power – position of Independent bodies, Alternative procedures of Constitutional Changes, The issue of Public Good in the Constitution of Serbia. Each policy paper will be used as a starting point for each local public discussion.

Creation of Position Paper for further promotion and advocacy among policy and decision makers – While creating the Position paper, information, comments and feedback collected during the public and advocacy activities will be taken into account. The Position paper will be widely disseminated and advocated for among policy and decision makers, including the opportunity of organizing the Final Conference.

Public events

In order to instigate, mobilize and intensify public debate among experts, decision makers, and CSOs the results of the policy analysis results will be presented within five (5) public events. Four (4) local consultative public debates in Belgrade, Nis, Kragujevac and Novi Sad and one Final Conference in Belgrade.

Advocacy activities

These activities will primarily encompass: a) Presentation of key conclusions and recommendations of the policy papers to members of two most relevant Parliamentary Committees in the National Assembly (Committee for European integration and Committee for Constitutional and Legislative Issues) and b) Presentation of key conclusions and recommendations of the policy analysis to Special Working Group for drafting the amendments to the Constitution (after its establishment) and Negotiation team for Accession Negotiation to the EU. Coordination with other CSO’s and their respective initiatives regarding Constitutional revision will be initiated through joint and regular consultations.

Media campaign and visibility

EMinS will contentiously work on the visibility of the planned activities during the whole duration of the project implementation.

Target audience:

Decision makers, academia/experts, civil society organizations and wider public.

Timeframe for realization:

The project will be realized from November 2016 – November 2017.

The project is financially supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Serbia, as part of the MATRA program of the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Opinions and attitudes expressed on this webpage, as well as all electronic and printed material related to the project are opinions and attitudes of the author and his/her colleagues and as such, do not necessarily represent either the official opinion of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Serbia, or the opinion of the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

DOCUMENT AND EVENTS