Parliament Committee Approves Bill to Amend Law on Army of Serbia

Vucic, Gasic, Mojsilovic (BETAPHOTO/OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT/DIMITRIJE GOLL)

The members of the Serbian parliament's Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs on Nov. 24 approved with a majority of votes bills submitted by the Serbian government, including the Bill on amendments to the Law on the Army of Serbia, it was announced in a post on the National Assembly website.

Slobodan Petrovic, an MP and deputy president of the Serbia Center party, said the amendments to the Law on the Army of Serbia were not in accordance with the principle of the separation of powers because they allowed the president of the country to influence day-to-day operations command, which is the purview of the government, defense minister and general staff headquarters.

"The proposed amendments envisage that the chief of staff commands the Army in accordance with the law, the decisions of the president of the Republic and command orders. That means that the president, who is a civilian, could issue orders directly to the General Staff and thus interfere in things he does not understand," Petrovic said at the Committee session.

If the proposed amendments pass, he said, the president will be able to use the Army without consent from the government. "Bearing in mind the current political and social situation in Serbia, the intention is obviously to place the military under full control, which has already been done with the Interior Ministry, the justice system, prosecutor's offices and special units," Petrovic said.

Miroslav Aleksic, the president of the People's Movement of Serbia, said during the discussion about the bill that if the proposed amendments pass, the chief of staff "will have to comply with the president's decisions."