At the polls in 2017. the citizens will have to confirm the changes to the Constitution. The option is for a referendum to be held alongside the presidential election.

Citizens of Serbia could go to the polls twice next year – to elect the new president and to confirm changes to the Constitution that are necessary in the process of negotiations with the European Union by referendum. According to our information it is possible for the presidential elections, which fall in the spring, and the referendum on the Constitution to be held on the same day.

It is impossible for a country to become a new member of the European Union before the next EU budget period in 2021, said today the Head of the Serbian negotiating team for negotiations with the EU Tanja Miščević.

„This is simply a rule and one can’t go beyond that“ said Miščević and added that she would not engage in calculations as to when will the Serbia become a member of the EU because that does not depend solely on Serbia.

In the process of structural changes with the openiing of Chapters 23 and 24 there will be changes to the constitution in order to allow for independent bodies to start their work adequately, which will lead to independence of the judiciary and prosecution, said the director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (Yucom) Milan Antonijević

In the process of structural changes with the opening of Chapters 23 and 24 there will be changes to the Constitution, says the director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (Yucom) Milan Antonijević.

The changes will be made so that the independent bodies, that can enact the independence of judiciary and prosecution, are allowed to begin their work in an adequate manner, he adds.

Does the opening of Chapter 23 and 24, under which Serbia commits itself to the rule of law, mean that the power of Aleksandar Vučić will be limited. The collocutors are Bogoljub Milosavljević, Professor of Law at the Belgrade Union University, and Milan Antonijević, director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights from Belgrade.

The civil proceedings should not last more than two years and criminal proceedings a maximum of five. For similar cases, no matter where the trials take place, consistent verdicts will be made, and politics will no longer have an impact on the Judiciary. The state institutions and its officials will be under even stronger control of the independent bodies. Serbia committed itself to all of this by adopting the Action Plans for Chapter 23 and 24 that were opened yesterday in Brussels.

The task I received from “Danas” to explain in 7.000 characters Chapter 23, the negotiations with the EU that will follow it as well as the current state of the so called Action plan that is being drawn up in Serbia seems impossible, but I will try anyway.

The negotiations with the European Union are being opened via special chapters which clearly state the aquis communautaire (binding regulations) at the EU level which Serbia will have to adopt.