PM: Constitution will have to be changed because of EU

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said that "Serbia will have to change its Constitution due to joining the EU."
Source: Tanjug Friday, October 2, 2015 | 15:10

(Tanjug)

his will require "a broad consensus," he said on Friday, during a lecture he delivered at he Faculty of Law in Belgrade, dubbed, "Serbia between East and West."
"There must be a broad consensus, we need to talk with everyone, it is meaningless that two or three parties should be deciding on that, but also with non-governmental organizations and regional stakeholders," Vucic has been quoted as saying.

He was responding to a student's question "whether the Constitution will have to be changed because of its preamble (referring to Kosovo)," by saying that the Constitution will have to be changed "because of the entry to the EU" but that "the writer, that is, the legislative authority, will take the best when it comes to the content."

Vucic said that there must be "serious reasons to change the Constitution, as well as a broad consensus."

Asked about "initiatives to change the political system," the prime minister said he would like a parliament with 15 instead of 250 seats.

"It is not a key issue for the budget, but it is a signal how we should behave," said Vucic, adding that "local self-governments are cumbersome, there are problems in the functioning of the administration."

Vucic also told the students attending the gathering today that "the country is emerging from the crisis and firmly going to the EU."

"This will enable us to both go to the EU and preserve good relations with Russia, China, India and other countries," said Vucic and added that "our country needs to go to the European Union because we have a lot to learn but also so we can make a system."

Speaking about "the need of preserving traditionally good relations with the East," Vucic said that "we have demonstrated our attitude towards Russia" because Serbia is "the only one that has not introduced sanctions" for the Ukrainian crisis, and did so "regardless of the pressure, that was there."

"Serbia has a lot to learn from the West," said Vucic, but also underlined that it needs to take from the East "that kind of freedom and latitude that the West, because of procedures it has, does not allow."

Vucic then said that "when someone asks if you are for Europe, it unfortunately boils down to the absurd political question, 'are you for the European Union, or not'."

Serbia, he said, "should strive toward great work, prosperity and progress and acceptance of new technologies, and this is important because it is lagging behind in what is most important, in economic development."

Vucic said that "diligence has never been sufficiently appreciated as a virtue here - unlike in the Protestant world."

The prime minister noted there had been "at attempt at pressure to declare Serbs a genocidal people" and that "Serbia dared to stand up and had no consequences" - and, in an apparent reference to Croatia - that "an EU member state unilaterally imposed sanctions against our country and carried out economic aggression."

"This was the first instance when the European Commission sided with a non-member state in a conflict with a member of the EU," he said.

"States must be guarded, you must make difficult decisions, think three times before you decide and draw conclusions in a wise way," said Vucic, "exclusively informing the students" that the budget deficit in September was RSD 3 billion - six times smaller than planned, Tanjug reported.