New Constitutional Amendments in the Field of Judiciary in Serbia – A Step Towards Europe?
New Constitutional Amendments in the Field of Judiciary in Serbia – A Step Towards Europe?

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyzes the adoption process of the constitutional amendments in Serbia in the context of the fulfillment of the European political criteria, namely – the Rule of Law. As an EU candidate country, the Republic of Serbia is officially committed to the European principles and values, however, it is still facing democratic backsliding in some aspects. Hence, the adopted constitutional changes aimed at strengthening the rule of law, by increasing legal certainty in the practices of judicial organs, and therefore in the entire legal order. Accordingly, in this paper the implications of the process of Europeanization which intensified the discourse on the constitutional transformation of the Republic of Serbia will be observed. Furthermore, the paper touches upon whether these introduced changes can equally reflect democratic strivings of the Republic of Serbia on its path towards the EU. In author’s view, the institutional changes are very much needed, however, in the case of Serbia, „the devil is in the implementation”. In addition, it is pointed out to the risks of “window dressing” in the reform process, showing that the formal fulfillment of the requirements without substantial understanding and proper legal and political execution is not equal to the real constitutional progress on the (long) road to EU membership.

• Details
• Contents