100 giorni del Parlamento serbo

[Olgica Andric <oljafiore at yahoo.com>]

Cari compagni,
Oggi vi invio un articolo scritto da giornalista serba Vesna
Malisic che riguarda le relazioni e il "sucesso" del nuovo
parlamento serbo dopo 100 giorni.
Devo esprimere i miei dubbi su queste cose perché non sono
convinta proprio che in frattempo qualcosa potrebbe essere
cambiato.
Cordiali saluti da Olgica

P.S. Purtroppo, io da 4 mesi sono fuori Jugoslavia e da questa
distanza (mi trovo a Reggio Calabria) tutto che succede là vedo
in un modo diverso. Mi piacerebbe sinceramente di non aver
ragione.



100 days of Serb Parliament

Parliamentary sessions are said to be the mirror of political
culture and democracy. If it's true, sessions of the Serb
Parliament depict our intolerance and inflamed passions

By Vesna Malisic


Last week, media were estimating results that the new Serb
Government achieved during 100 days of its rule. Both praises
and criticisms could be heard. The Serb Parliament has been
functioning for 100 days too. 

However, we take Parliament for an unproductive chatting room,
where political opponents quarrel. Situation in Parliament
hasn't changed much. The regime and the opposition still seem
like two parallel worlds without any connection. However, there
was an exception that proved the rule. Parliament accepted
Tomislav Nikolic's amendment to the Law on Salaries in State
Bodies reading that Parliament, not the Government, should fix
the salaries. 


I must admit that some important changes happened in the Serb
Parliament. It cannot happen any more that a reporter of the
Serb Radio and Television cuts the speech of an opposition
deputy, just because he is criticizing the regime; deputies of
the Socialist Party of Serbia aren't singing during sessions;
they have stopped mentioning traitors, spies and CIA agents.
However, certain inertness still exists in Parliament. DOS
deputies are quite inert since they represent majority in
Parliament. Many of them are sitting and chatting in the
corridors. They don't mind if it degrades parliamentary life.
One of the main tasks of the ruling coalition's deputies is to
return Parliament's dignity and reputation, which the former
regime destroyed.


DOS deputies decided to change the Parliament Procedure in order
to avoid endless and useless discussions aiming to obstruct and
compromise the authorities. According to the new Procedure, a
deputy who suggests an amendment to the draft law, the chief of
his parliamentary group and chiefs of other parliamentary groups
are the only persons who can discuss the amendment. However, it
turned out that every rule could be evaded. Serb Radicals
invented a new system of obstruction. They suggest at least one
amendment to every article. So, discussions are still extremely
long. DOS deputies restrain themselves from discussions to make
the procedure more effective. Consequently, parliamentary life
isn't dynamic and DOS deputies seem rather passive.


It is possible that the Procedure will be changed again. It is
said that new solutions will be based on the experience of
democratic parliamentary systems. Namely, every party will have
certain time for discussions in proportion with its
parliamentary strength. 


However, certain aspects of parliamentary life cannot be solved
by any rule. Marko Pavlovic, a professor of law noticed an
interesting connection between the Procedure and design of the
chamber.


"Parliament hall isn't an adequate place for parliamentary
discussions. It looks like a room for listening, not like a room
for discussions. Speaker's platform is in such a place that
members of the presidency are breathing down the speaker's neck.
Seats are crammed like in a bus," professor Pavlovic says.


Parliamentary sessions are said to be the mirror of political
culture and democracy. If it's true, sessions of the Serb
Parliament depict our intolerance and inflamed passions.


I won't even mention a debate, which is the essence of
parliamentary life. The Procedure cannot solve that.




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