Organization Transparency Serbia invites you to attend press conference

Preposition of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and fight against corruption

- Important provisions and dilemmas about new Constitution and referendum campaign for confirmation of Constitution -

Which will take place in the premises of the organization, Despota Stefana street (29. novembra) 36, on Tuesday, 10 th of October, with the beginning at 11.00

  PRESENTATION [ppt]

Roughly agenda:

11.00 – 11.15 Status of parliament representatives in the preposition of the Constitution and consequences for fight against corruption – Vladimir Goati

11.15 – 11.25 New constitutional solutions important for fight against corruption – right to access to information, preventing conflict of interest, status of independent institutions – Nemanja Nenadić

11.25 – 11.35 Legal and other dilemmas regarding the financing of campaign for confirmation of referendum – Nemanja Nenadić

Od 11.35 Questions and answers

Transparency – Serbia

Press Office

Press conference subjects :

Transparency Serbia emphasized in several occasions that quality of the fight against corruption in Serbia can depend out of some constitutional solutions. Some of the problems are confirmed also in National Strategy for Fight Against Corruption, but concrete solutions for removing those problems still aren't elaborated.

Bringing of the highest legal act in country certainly has to have consequences to the strength of regulations and institutions that deal with fight against corruption, so as to the possibility that citizens in democratic process get the responsible representatives of general interest and possibility to influence themselves to their better future.

Secrecy of harmonization process of the new constitution text, although maybe represented as political necessity, still represents bad role model for creating of future laws and by-laws . Due to that, space for expert comments opens only in situation when the text can not be changed. However, that certainly doesn't mean that one shouldn't be familiarized with solutions that that text brings and to consider their possible effects to change of environment where corruption is born or where fight against it is leading.

Status of parliament representatives and fight against corruption

Question of „free“or „imperative” mandate for years disturbs Serbian political system, and represents one of the key dilemmas of democratic structure of Serbia . Current Constitution promotes system of free mandate, and the preposition of the new Constitution opens possibility for mandate of parliament representatives to become „property“of political parties. Advantages and disadvantages of such solutions with especial accent to possible consequences in the area of political corruption will be presented at the conference.

Constitutional provisions and provisions important for fight against corruption

Earlier we pointed out that „new Constitution, among other things, should: 1) support guarantee of the right to access to information in the possession of authority organs; 2) prescribe mechanism for education and better status of independent organs, out of which many of them play important role in fight against corruption (e.g. State Audit Institution, Commissioner for Information, Ombudsman...) 3) manage to bring down to necessary level prosecution immunity of public officials; 4) manage effective implementation of international conventions and agreements for fight against corruption.“ Listing will be presented at the conference of what is already being done and what not in the text that Parliament adopted.

Financing of campaign

Financing of campaign regarding to forthcoming referendum for confirmation of new Constitution falls into series of activities that will be done in gray zone, considering that this area isn't legally regulated almost at all. Law on referendum and peoples initiative from the year of 1994 arranges only the question of financing of organizational costs of referendum alone and not the campaign that state organs, political parties and others interested lead to recruit citizens to vote, boycott voting ,or to vote in certain way.

Because the Law on Financing of Political Parties only regulates financing of election and not the referendum campaigns, it won't be possible to apply its regulations to pre referendum campaign. Consequence is that political parties' costs of pre referendum campaign will account within costs of their regular work and that they won't have the obligation to open special accounts or to submit special reports to Republic Election Commission for collecting assets for campaign. It is good to mention that, by Law on Broadcasting, advertising of political organizations outside of pre electoral campaigns is forbidden in electronic media. Also, we have reality that assets for financing of campaign for voting at the referendum are from the budget.

Due to that, in days to follow we will see in which way state and party campaigns for voting at the referendum so as the announced campaigns for boycott of referendum will be organized. If they wish to keep their activities under existing legal prohibitions, ruling parties shouldn't spent budget assets for financing of campaign to their own promotion, and all political parties will in campaign limit to advertising in printed media, billboards, pamphlets and gatherings. It is possible that formal carrier of eventual non state campaign regarding referendum at electron media, will be some association instead of political parties, because in that way current legal prohibition can be obviated. How ever, observation stays that it is very bad that issue of financing of referendum campaign isn't regulated in adequate way, not only for constitutional referendum, but also for numerous referendums for withdrawal of municipality presidents which we had in previous months. (form statement of Nemanja Nenadić given to BETA news agency, October 1st 2006 )

New dilemmas regarding the financing of referendum campaign immerge from the decision adopted through budget rebalance, which opens the possibility for 150 million dinars from budget to be distributed to political parties for the purpose of referendum campaign. More about possible implications on press conference.