Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006

Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006representatives of minority communities 161 as well as some political parties 162protested against the way the Constitution adopted.The representatives of the authorities had different ways of explaining thelack of public discussion. While some claimed that the discussion had beenlead for the previous six years, others pointed out that the public discussionis „the heritage of titoism“ 163 . The Prime Minister of Serbia assumed bothof these attitudes, however unbelievable that sounds 164 . The President ofSerbia expressed regret that there was no public discussion 165 , even thoughhe personally participated in the process of proposing the Constitution.The absence of public discussion represents a serious violation of generallyaccepted democratic procedures. Representatives of the OSCE 166 publiclycommented on this very point. On the absence of public discussion, theProfessor of Belgrade Faculty of Law Vesna Rakic Vodinelic wrote:„On adopting a Constitution or Laws, however, it is not only importantwhat the legal text states, but also how it was reached. The procedure isestablished precisely in order to respect the rights of addressees — thosewhom the legal norm refers to. To adopt a Constitution which was notavailable to any citizens of this state, who are not in the Government orclose to it, and at the same time to put in Article 2 of the Proposition of theConstitution that sovereignty originates from the citizens, represents notonly hypocrisy but also the breaking of democratic procedures“ 167 .161 Representatives’ groups on the Proposition of the Constitution, B92, September 26 th , 2006, website: http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/u_fokusu.php?id=122&start=150&nav_id=213118, visited on November 24 th , 2006162 Ibid163 Aleksandar Simic, advisor of the Prime Minister of Serbia, website: http://www.srpskapolitika.com/Tekstovi/Analize/154.html;visited on November 24 th , 2006164 Kostunica stated in an interview for the daily newspaper Politika from October 13 th , 2006 that there werethree public discussions since the year 2000, but also that the public discussion “used to be characteristic ofthe worst communist period in the development of Yugoslavia, when it served as an excuse for imposed legaland constitutional solutions. That is the Constitution from 1974, or the amendments which preceded it”, availableat the website: http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/pregled_stampe.php?yyyy=2006&mm=10&dd=13&nav_id=215232, visited on November 24 th , 2006165 Reactions to the Proposition of the Constitution, B92, September 29 th , 2006, website: http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/u_fokusu.php?id=122&start=150&nav_id=213590, visited on November 24 th , 2006166 Ibid167 Vesna Rakic Vodinelic, Why say NO to the Constitution, October 2006 10 th , available at the website: http://www.cedajovanovic.com/code/navigate.php?Id=579, visited on November 24 th , 200651