Today, Justice Minister Nela Kuburović received the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Andrea Orizio with whom she discussed the process of constitutional amendments, including the Ministry’s further activities towards the completion of requirements defined in the Negotiation Chapter 23 Action Plan. Minister Kuburović said that the Ministry of Justice was finalising the Draft Amendments to the Constitution concerning the justice sector, which would be entirely aligned with the Venice Commission’s recommendations. She pointed out that those recommendations were binding on Serbia, primarily because they were defined as binding in the Action Plan which the European Commission had adopted.
The Minister added that once the new version of the Draft Amendments was completed, a round table would be held where all the interested parties would be able to review the new text of the Draft Amendments, creating an opportunity for any disagreements on the text to be resolved.
Ambassador Orizio stressed that Serbia had made progress in reforming the judiciary, including the Ministry of Justice which had been carrying out the difficult task in the process. He added that the amendments to the justice sector provisions of the Constitution were of great importance for the judicial independence and accountability and especially from the aspect of where and how Serbia saw itself in the future.
Commenting on the constitutional amendments process, the Minister stated that the process had been rather complicated in that it required several phases in which a great number of actors had to be involved, as well as a political consensus inside the very Parliament to be reached.
Ambassador Orizio noted that the OSCE Mission to Serbia remained at the Ministry’s disposal for providing the necessary expertise and the continuous support to Serbia in its path to meeting its strategic goals.