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PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #0075/01 0271603
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271603Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0904
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHNS/NSC WASHDC
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0042

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BELGRADE 000075 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE (P. PETERSON) 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SR
SUBJECT: SERBIAN PARLIAMENT IN NEED OF REFORM 
 
REF: A) 08 BELGRADE 1250, B) 08 BELGRADE 1072, C) 08 BELGRADE 1302 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Rather than serving as an effective counterweight to the 
executive branch, Serbia's parliament is so plagued by inefficiency 
and internal divisions that it has become an obstacle to the 
country's reform efforts and European Union aspirations.  The 
governing coalition's narrow majority allows small parties to 
extract concessions in return for support of crucial pieces of 
legislation, the rules of procedure create wide leeway for members 
to obstruct the agenda, the electoral system creates complete 
subservience to party leaders rather than  accountability to voters, 
communication within the governing coalition and with the opposition 
is lacking, and live television broadcasts of the sessions encourage 
members to grandstand for the audience at home.  There are 
encouraging signs, however, that the government wants to increase 
efficiency and accountability through changes to the rules of 
procedure and electoral system.  End summary. 
 
Parliament Struggles with Deadlines 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Since its formation in June 2008 following parliamentary 
elections, the Serbian parliament has been unable to pass 
legislation in a timely fashion.  This was demonstrated vividly 
during the consideration of the 2009 state budget, which was adopted 
just moments before the midnight deadline on December 29, 2008.  The 
vote only became possible when the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), led 
by indicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj from his jail cell in The 
Hague, decided to leave the session and allow hundreds of its 
proposed amendments to be voted down without debate.  According to 
our contacts in Parliament, the SRS decision was the result of a 
back-room deal between the SRS and the ruling coalition brokered by 
Deputy PM Ivica Dacic.  While the Parliament has successfully passed 
a few pieces of important legislation, most notably the sweeping 
judicial reform package (Ref A), such achievements are unfortunately 
infrequent. 
 
¶3.  (U) On January 5, Speaker of Parliament Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic 
of the Socialist Party (SPS) announced that during its fall session 
the Serbian Parliament had passed only 10 of 51 laws needed for 
European Union accession. Out of the remaining laws, 18 were in 
parliamentary procedure, 6 had not yet been approved by the 
Government, 9 were in the final draft phase, while 8 were in the 
initial phase. 
 
Narrow Majority with Diverging Interests 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) One of the main reasons for the Parliament's inefficiency 
is the ruling coalition's narrow majority of 129 deputies (out of 
250), who belong to 18 different political parties and groups.  The 
government and parliamentary leadership have had a difficult time 
satisfying the diverse interests of all coalition partners.  The 
opposition, composed of experienced MPs from the SRS, the Democratic 
Party of Serbia (DSS) of former Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, 
Tomislav Nikolic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) which split from 
the SRS in October 2008, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), 
uses every opportunity to extract concessions in return for support. 
 For example, Cedomir Jovanovic's LDP stepped in to provide a quorum 
when four Hungarian MPs from the governing coalition refused to 
support a key piece of judicial reform legislation, prompting 
immediate press speculation that LDP had received something in 
return. 
 
Rules of Procedure Permit Obstruction 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Articles 225 and 226 of the Parliament's Rules of 
Procedure (ROP) essentially allow MPs to debate on any subject they 
want, at any time they want, and as many times as they want.  Nada 
Kolundzija announced that during the last 6 months of 2008, or 60 
working days, the Radicals used these provisions 1272 times and 
spent 67 hours discussing topics unrelated to the agenda.  She said 
that a minority of 50 MPs were "torturing" the other 200 and that 
this obstruction cost Serbian tax payers 5 million dinars ($75,000) 
every work day.  In an end-of-year interview, President Tadic 
underscored the need for new parliamentary rules of procedure in 
order to guarantee the normal functioning of the parliament.  DS MP 
Nenad Konstantinovic, the new chair of the Administrative Committee, 
told us that a special working group in which he participates had 
drafted new ROP with provisions that limit, but do not entirely 
eliminate, the right of MPs to address different issues.  DS is 
still working to achieve consensus on the changes. 
 
BELGRADE 00000075  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
Radical-Progressive Feud Exacerbates Situation 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Following Tomislav Nikolic's decision to leave the Radical 
Party and establish a new Serbian Progressive Party (Ref B), the SRS 
has used these loopholes in the Rules of Procedure to obstruct 
debate in an effort to regain seats and committee chairmanships 
taken by the SNS.  After several months of sporadic blockage, the 
SRS and SNS appear to have reached agreement on a package deal of 
sorts:  Nikolic surrendered chairmanship of the important 
Administrative Committee to the DS's Nenad Konstantinovic on January 
16; Jorgovanka Tabakovic (SNS) was replaced as chair of the Finance 
Committee by Zoran Krasic (SRS) on January 19; and the 
Administrative Committee is reportedly poised to give three SNS 
seats back to the SRS. 
 
Lack of Accountability 
---------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The structure of Parliament is another significant factor 
in the oftentimes juvenile behavior of its members.  MPs are chosen 
through a country-wide party list system, and the lists are not 
transparent before the elections; this means that members depend 
entirely on the goodwill of party leaders to obtain and retain their 
seats in Parliament, and voters have no way to vote out an 
individual who does not produce results.  This subservience to party 
leadership is compounded by the practice of having MPs sign blank 
letters of resignation at the start of their terms, which party 
leaders use to ensure that members vote the party line.  The result 
is an absolute lack of accountability of members of Parliament to 
any electoral constituency.  The Parliament also suffers from a lack 
of experienced and knowledgeable committee staff. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) There is an effort underway to reform the electoral system 
and address these problems.  Speaker Djukic-Dejanovic told us on 
January 22 that significant changes to the electoral law were in the 
works.  State Administration and Self-Government Minister Milan 
Markovic (DS) has announced plans to introduce legislation in the 
spring that would implement a mixed proportional electoral system at 
the local level, with the idea of applying the new system at the 
national level if it proves effective.  Under the new voting system, 
devised by USG grantee CeSID (Center for Free Election and 
Democracy), each municipality would be divided into as many sectors 
as it had representatives in the local Assembly; parties would have 
to list their candidates for each seat on the ballot; and the seats 
would be divided proportionally among parties, who would be required 
to give the mandates to the candidates who received the most votes. 
CeSID is briefing the parties on the draft legislation, and tells us 
that the SNS was unexpectedly supportive of the changes. 
 
Government Indifference? 
------------------------ 
 
¶9. (SBU) Our opposition contacts frequently allege that the 
government and President Tadic do not see the parliament as an 
important part of the government's work, pointing in particular to 
the appointee of the Socialist Party's Djukic-Dejanovic - a clinical 
physiatrist and relatively inexperienced politician - as speaker. 
They also charge that Nada Kolundzija, the head of the majority 
caucus, does not have authority within her own Democratic Party. 
The December fight within the government over the gas deal with 
Russia (Ref C) also brought to light the fact that there were no 
regularly-scheduled consultations between the leaders of the ruling 
parties.  "Vecernje Novosti" reported on January 23 that Prime 
Minister Cvetkovic now plans to meet monthly with coalition 
leaders. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Lack of coordination and regular consultations between 
the majority and the opposition also hinders the parliament's work. 
Deputy Speaker Rade Obradovic (DSS) explained to us that Speaker 
Djukic-Dejanovic, for example, had never invited any of four 
opposition deputy speakers for consultations, and that he literally 
did not know where her office was.  Aleksandra Jerkov, deputy head 
of the majority caucus, told us privately that she had been shocked 
to learn that no one had consulted with opposition leaders during 
the six week long summer blockade of the parliament following the 
July arrest of ICTY indictee Radovan Karadzic. 
 
Live TV Broadcasts: Free Propaganda 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Public national broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia 
(RTS) is required to broadcast all sessions of parliament live, a 
measure intended to provide transparency of government.  It 
pre-empts programming on Channel 2 in order to show the sessions, 
 
BELGRADE 00000075  003 OF 003 
 
 
creating a captive audience among (primarily rural) viewers who do 
not have cable or satellite television.  The opposition parties use 
these live broadcasts to further their own political agenda, 
addressing their constituents rather than focusing on the substance 
of the legislation under consideration.  Although the ratings of 
these broadcasts are relatively low, all political parties support 
their continuation.  Nada Kolundzija told us that the majority will 
never propose doing away with the live broadcasts since that was one 
of the major democratic achievements of the opposition during 
Milosevic's regime.  She also told us that the live broadcasts allow 
the public to see the behavior of some MPs and show "real face" of 
the Radicals, noting that the introduction of a separate C-SPAN type 
channel would not be possible under current law. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The Parliament has a key role to play in Serbia's efforts 
to join the European Union, but without serious reform it will not 
be able to pass the hundreds of laws necessary to harmonize Serbian 
legislation with the EU "acquis."  At the moment, the Parliament has 
lost credibility as a serious institution and does not attract 
serious legislators.  The adoption of new rules of procedure, 
limiting the ability of small groups to obstruct proceedings, and 
the establishment of constructive dialogue with the executive branch 
are crucial for the parliament to function normally and serve as an 
effective and credible check on executive power.  We are encouraged 
by the fact that new Rules of Procedure and local electoral 
legislation are in the works, and also that the Parliament has 
enthusiastically agreed to participate in USAID's new "Separation of 
Powers" project and various smaller-scale activities implemented by 
USG funded National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Serbia, all 
designed to increase the transparency and capacity of parliament's 
administration.  End Comment. 
 
MUNTER