At the special session of the National Assembly of Serbia held on 7 June, Members of the Parliament approved the government’s proposal to amend constitutional provisions on the judiciary, submitted in December 2020. The parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs is now expected to follow up with determining the draft text.

The joint European Union/Council of Europe action “Strengthening independence and accountability of the judiciary” closely accompanies the constitutional reform in Serbia. For the past two years, the Ministry of Justice benefitted from several presentations on relevant European and international standards, especially in the sphere of judicial and prosecutorial ethics and disciplinary liability.

In order to encourage the local stakeholders to consider relevant recommendations when designing the future policy framework, Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade, wrote an op-ed for the Serbian daily newspaper Politika, published on 6 June.

For more than 20 years, since the opening of our office in Belgrade in March 2001 and until today, the Council of Europe has accompanied constitutional developments in Serbia.

The process launched by the government last December aims, for the first time, to amend the Serbian constitution of 2006. This will require a holistic approach. The Venice Commission has issued an in-depth analysis of the constitution in 2007 which raises points still pertinent for consideration today.

The areas covered by the government initiative for constitutional reform concern the judiciary. The Venice Commission provided comprehensive orientation constituted of an Opinion and a Secretariat Memorandum issued in June and October 2018.

Since then the situation with the judiciary and the rule of law in Serbia and Europe has evolved, but the wide array of all the available material of standard-setting and monitoring bodies of the Council of Europe remains relevant and should be duly considered as it can provide a vital contribution to the process of the constitutional reform.

Recently, the Council of Europe office in Belgrade and the Institute of Comparative Law published the package of standard-setting documents in the field of the rule of law and the judiciary.  In the context of the National Assembly’s work these documents have been made available online. The documents come from various Council of Europe bodies: the Committee of Ministers, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission), the Consultative Council of European Judges, the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO); they also contain the relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe contributes to the process: in February 2021, its Monitoring Committee requested an opinion of the Venice Commission on the constitutional and legal framework governing the functioning of democratic institutions in Serbia. It is expected that the draft opinion will be adopted at the October 2021 plenary session of the Venice Commission.

Adhering to the Council of Europe’s standards is essential for ensuring the rule of law in Serbia. This is equally important in the context of the Republic of Serbia’s further development of ties with the EU and its accession to the European Union. Under the joint action “Strengthening independence and accountability of the judiciary in Serbia”, the Council of Europe and the EU are supporting Serbia on its path. The benchmarking role of the Council of Europe for human rights, the rule of law and democracy in Europe was confirmed by the European Union on several occasions, and most recently by all 27 EU member states at the latest Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 21 May 2021 in Hamburg.

We encourage the members of the National Assembly, professional organisations of the judiciary, civil society, academia and media to make full use of the wealth of knowledge and experience of the Council of Europe standard-setting, monitoring and co-operation bodies in the reform of Serbia’s constitution, to the benefit of the people of the country and of the region as a whole.