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Fluid Borders of National-Cultural Autonomy: The Legal Status of National Minority Councils in Serbia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2019

Katinka Beretka
Katinka Beretka*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Legal and Business Studies “Dr Lazar Vrkatić,” Novi Sad, Union University, Serbia; Faculty of Law for Commerce and Judiciary in Subotica, University Business Academy in Novi Sad, Serbia
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: beretka.katinka@gmail.com
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Abstract

This article gives an overview of the current position of minority self-governance within the Serbian legal order and its multilevel governance structure, with a particular focus on issues deriving from the missing legal determination of national minority councils. Although Serbia’s 2009 Law on National Minority Councils was welcomed by the international community, both national minority councils and public agencies have from the very beginning of its operation expressed serious concerns relating inter alia to the unspecified legal status of the councils. This has resulted in frequent misunderstandings in practice and, rather than being real self-governments of national minorities under public law, the councils are usually treated as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or organizations under the influence of political parties. Instead of presenting (international) political and social scientific approaches to the legal character of non-territorial autonomy in general, the article focuses on concrete legislative solutions and Constitutional Court practice regarding issues relevant to the de jure status of national minority councils in Serbia, such as election rules, competences, and funding.

Keywords

Serbiacultural autonomynational minority councilslegal status
Type
Special Issue Article
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 48 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue on National Cultural Autonomy in Diverse Political Communities: Practices, Challenges, and Perspectives , March 2020 , pp. 273 - 288
Copyright
© Association for the Study of Nationalities 2019

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