THE FOLLOWING IS THE SPEECH OF THE SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA IN ITS ENTIRETY:

"Dear Chairperson and members of the Committee,

Dear Minister of Justice,

Your Excellencies,

Esteemed representatives of civil society,

I would like to welcome you to the National Assembly and thank you for responding to the invitation to this public hearing with which we continue the public debate on the changes to the Constitution of Serbia. With this series of public hearings, we intend to include all the relevant social factors in the process of Constitutional amendment, to hear their views and proposals and secure the broadest possible agreement on the future text of the Constitution.

Changes to the Constitution are not, nor should they be, an easy task. We are changing the supreme legal act of our country here, after 15 years, and what we do now will remain the foundation of our legal order for decades to come. That is why we are approaching the changes to the Constitution with special care and I will remind you that the public debate on the constitutional changes began two or three years ago. We are now, practically, at the end of this procedure and I am convinced that we can complete that part of the job quickly and efficiently, which is why we have frequent discussions in the format of public hearings. After today's discussion, we will continue to talk to everyone who can help us reach the best solutions and will have talks outside of Belgrade - in Nis, Novi Sad and Kragujevac.

You know that during the previous public hearing, we heard the opinions of representatives of the university, our experts from law faculties from all over Serbia, as well as representatives of the judiciary and the bar. It was a good and constructive debate, and I am sure that it will be of great benefit to the National Assembly in the further steps of the constitutional amendment procedure. Today, we invited the civil sector to the debate, as part of the professional and interested public which plays a very important role and has a significant impact on legislative drafting, and as such on the preparation of changes to the Constitution.

I am sure that you will use this opportunity to offer good suggestions and point out shortcomings, if any, to contribute to the joint effort to come up with more modern and fairer solutions. You know that the change to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia concerns provisions in the field of judiciary, i.e. the manner of election to judicial office, and there will be no other changes. These changes are partly our obligation arising from the process of accession to the European Union, but for the most part they stem from our need to make sure the constitutional system provides maximum protection and equality of citizens before the law and stronger guarantees for the independence of the judiciary, as one of the foundations of a democratic society.

As for our further procedure, I would like to inform you that I have scheduled a plenary session of the National Assembly for 8 June where we will rule on the proposal to change the Constitution. Based on that decision, the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Issues will propose a concrete form of the constitutional changes, i.e. the text of the amendment. The National Assembly will rule on it again, followed by a referendum in which all citizens will vote on the Constitutional changes. The public debate will continue parallel with all this, so that the whole procedure is as open as possible to all relevant points of view.

The Law on Referendums also needs to be changed in order to be harmonised with the existing Constitution, according to which in order to succeed the referendum needs the majority of the number of citizens who turn out to vote, and not more than 50% of the total number of voters.

Once again, thank you for participating in today’s public hearing, I see it as proof of your willingness to contribute to the success of the important work that lies ahead. The National Assembly and I will be open to your concrete and constructive initiatives, not only today, but until the very end of the procedure of Constitutional change.

Thank you!"