It is Serbia That Is Unequal

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia was drawn up at a time when the process of the disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was well under way and when an imminent end of that unfortunate creation could already be forecast with great certainty. No one respected the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia anymore and this induced the officials in Serbia to draw up a Constitution that would proclaim Serbia a sovereign and independent state which would be an international entity with a defense system and a complete system of state authority. Due to this concept of the republican Constitution, which did not take as a starting point that Serbia is a member of a federation and that its constitutional order has to fit into a federal order, today there still exist two uncoordinated Constitutions. This is reflected not only in the verbal determination of the Republic of Serbia's sovereignty and independence, incompatible with the idea of federalism, but also in a series of republican functions which it should perform. Let us take the fields of national defense and foreign affairs: in these fields the president of the Republic has such competencies as if he were head of some real state, and the government includes ministers for both fields. The distribution of competencies between the two levels of authority has not been coordinated, so that certain functions equally fall under the jurisdiction of both the federation and the republic, like for instance the financial system, planning, obligations...

Why doesn't Serbia coordinate its Constitution with the federal one?

In normal countries, the matter would be easily resolved: the republican Constitution would have to be coordinated with the regulations in the federal constitution without any delay. Here, the situation is complex in two respects. First of all, the federal Constitution was obviously adopted in a defective way in the constitutional and legal sense, and this refers to both the bodies that adopted it and the procedure itself. The result of this is that the question being raised is whether one could ask that a republican Constitution (although also adopted under irregular circumstances) should necessarily be coordinated with such a federal Constitution? Secondly, the entire concept of the new federation, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, is based on wrong foundations, because it is trying to form a federal state with only two federal units that are very different in size and strength. In that federation, the population of the Republic of Serbia accounts for 95 percent and approximately for just as much of economic strength. According to the definition, a federation is an alliance of equals, and on the legal plane, such an equality in our circumstances can only be achieved to the detriment of the interests of Serbia and its citizens.

What about the resistance in Montenegro? Do you think that this republic's fear of being unequal is justified?

There is no reason for such fear because the Constitution offers a series of guarantees for the status and various rights of Montenegro in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. There is a twofold guarantee: first of all, no decision concerning Montenegro's position in the federation can be taken without the consent of the Chamber of Republics where in order for a decision to be adopted it is necessary to get a majority of the votes of all the members of the chamber and not of those who are present, and apart from that, it would be necessary to get the consent of the Montenegrin Assembly for any possible changes that would affect Montenegro's position in the federation. There is yet another possibility - when deciding on certain issues, they can ask that in the Chamber of Citizens' this be done by a two thirds majority.

Do you think that such a federation can function at all?

Such a federation cannot be efficient. It will cause problems in the functioning of state organs - primarily the Assembly and the government. Namely, the weak points of the new federation's organization are also reflected in the composition of both chambers of the Yugoslav Assembly and in the provision saying that the president and the prime minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia cannot be from the same republic. Furthermore, the way in which the most important provisions can be changed are typically confederal because the consent of both the republican assemblies is required. I would add that the actual inequality of Serbia is also reflected in the fact that Serbia has 19 times more military conscripts than Montenegro and that the federal budget is supplied to a far greater extent from Serbia.

Which constitutional solution could ensure the normal functioning of the federation, since, to all intents and purposes, the existing ones are not able to?

There are four possible solutions for eliminating the evident weaknesses of the existing federation. First of all, this would be the creation of a modern federation with the elimination of the existing confederal elements - not forgetting the already mentioned reservations concerning the efficiency of a federation with two federal units. Secondly, a regional state could be organized with a certain number of regions that would enjoy broad autonomy, they would have no elements of statehood and they would have the right to form a special chamber in the central parliament (the chamber of regions). The third possibility is to form a customs and economic union with the most necessary coordinating bodies in these fields. And finally, there remains the worst solution - the total disintegration of the existing common state.