• 2014-06-27
• |  Beograd

The Necessary Public Debate on the Labour Act

The Working Group 17 of the National Convention on the EU: It is extremely undesirable that the adoption of an umbrella law, such as the Labour Act, is passed without public debate.

Ms. Nataša Nikolić, acting legal counsel to the Centre for Democracy Foundation gave a statement on "Novosti Dana" (translation: News of the Day) which aired on Belgrade 1 Radio regarding the media announcement made on the conclusions reached at the initial meeting of Working Group 17 of the National Convention on the EU (NC EU). 

Emphasis was placed on the dissatisfaction expressed by the majority of members of the NC EU Working Group with the announced decision-making procedures of the Labour Act (LA). It was pointed out that it is a very undesirable result that the adoption of an umbrella law, such as the Labour Act, was passed without public debate. This represents a step backwards in regards to the established procedure of passing laws democratically, for which all of these members have advocated for many years. Naturally, the tripartite dialogue cannot be omitted; however, a public debate would make it possible for the opinions of experts in the field of labour law to be heard, as well as the opinions of NGOs who are in direct contact with the general public, as end-users of a law such as the LA. 

Additionally, issues have arisen due to the difference in the English and Serbian drafts of the Labour Act available on the website of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Issues. Therefore, even if we would like to give praise or to criticise the solutions proposed in the draft, we are not in a position to do so because it is unclear which draft of the law will enter the parliamentary procedure.