Yesterday, the citizens were denied the right to participate in the decision-making on the urbanization of Makiško polje, the most important Belgrade water source. Similarly, citizens throughout Serbia are denied the right to participate in making numerous decisions that affect their lives. It is necessary to repeal all (early) public insights, public sessions, and public hearings held during the emergency situation, outside the legal framework of the Republic of Serbia.

During the COVID19 pandemic in Serbia, we have been repeatedly pointing out the illegality of conducting (early) public insights and public sessions of the Belgrade City Assembly’s Commission for Plans and we have been demanding the suspension of these processes and their postponement until the epidemiological situation calms down and the emergency situation is lifted. The Planning Commission and the Secretariat for Urbanism and Construction Affairs persistently ignore dozens of justified requests from numerous civic initiatives, citizens' associations, and professional associations. Yesterday's simulation of a public session on DRP for a part of Makiško polje speaks in favor of that, at which the security and the police prevented the entry of interested citizens into the building of the Secretariat, and prevented their right to participate in this process.

We are underlining that, in the conditions of an emergency situation, when tens of thousands of citizens are hospitalized or in self-isolation, and when there is a justified risk of infecting participants in public participation processes, any conduction of these processes is a direct violation of the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Serbia. Proceedings conducted without public participation are illegal actions and are examples of direct violation of the guaranteed rights of all citizens to participate in the decision-making process.

Despite the existing regulations of the Republic of Serbia, the Planning Commission decided to assign itself the rights and competencies of a legislator, which isn’t assigned to it neither by the Constitution nor by any law, and to completely violate the applicable regulations and procedures for conducting public inspections, as well as to arbitrarily invent a procedure which completely suspends the existing procedures defined by regulations and results in exclusion of citizens from the process of drafting planning documents and deciding on the development of the city.

The manner of conducting public insights and public sessions, which the Commission for Plans invented and started applying it from yesterday's public session on DRP for a part of Makiško polje, reflects extreme disrespect for the public interest, the current legal order in this country and democratic governance, which the Commission is obliged to follow and promote.

Of particular concern is the involvement of the police, communal police, and security, which prevented citizens from entering the City administration building. Yesterday, significant police forces were placed in the garage of the city administration with the obvious intention of being engaged against citizens who came to exercise their legally guaranteed right. We demand from the Chief of the Police Administration for the City of Belgrade to explain why yesterday the police forces were placed in the garage of the building in no.1 Kraljice Marije Street and what was their task?

All (early) public insights and public hearings held during the state of emergency must be immediately repealed in order to protect the public interest, the rule of law, and democracy, which is essentially endangered by the actions of the authorities in Serbia. Making decisions in a way that violates and restricts the right of citizens to participate is unconstitutional and illegal. Those who participated in these processes, knowingly violating the law, must be held accountable for the abuse of public authority, the capture of the state and institutions.

We invite the general public, experts, other organizations and citizens to get acquainted with the dangerous precedents that are being introduced, as well as with developed projects which are detrimental to all of us and to raise their voice in defense of the public interest and public goods.

In Belgrade, December 16, 2020

Center for Cultural Decontamination, Ministry of Space, Regulatory Institute for Renewable Energy Environment - RERI, Let's Not D(r)own Belgrade, Organization for Political Ecology Polekol, Belgrade Open School, Right to Water Initiative, WWF Adria

Photo source: Belgrad Open School