PRESS RELEASE

Serbian Unity Congress

For quite some time now, the Serbian Unity Congress has been working on issues of importance for the Diaspora, such as citizenship, voting rights, the inclusion of representatives of the diaspora in the work of the commission writing the Constitutional Charter, the right of representatives from the diaspora to be elected into the future unicameral Parliament of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as into the Assemblies of Serbia and Montenegro, the issue of the establishment of a Ministry for the Diaspora, as well as the adoption or amendment of laws and regulations on privatization, foreign investments, taxes, customs duties, foreign currency transactions and so on.

In regard to the upcoming elections for the president of the Republic of Serbia, the Congress wholeheartedly supports the proposal of the Diaspora Council for the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to add the following amendment to the valid Election Law:

"The electoral right of voters permanently residing outside the Republic of Serbia (i.e. outside FR Yugoslavia) can be realized at diplomatic and consular missions of the FRY abroad, unless banned by the laws of the country they live in, and if so, in the nearest neighboring country, through direct vote, by means of correspondence, by authorization or by a combination of these possibilities ".

The SUC requests that this provision be applied already at the Serbian presidential elections, considering this to be the first real0 test of the current authorities’ good will.

As part of the same activities, consultations have been made with legal experts and expert groups (e.g. the Institute for Comparative Law), in order to find a formulation for the problem and the road for resolving Serbia’s acute issues. The Serbian Unity Congress combined the comments received from its branches in Canada, Vienna, San Francisco and New York into comments on the new Election Bill, which have been presented to CESID, an organization that participated in the drafting of the new Election Law. Some of these comments were accepted. The law is now being drafted at the Republican Legislation Secretariat and contact has been established with them for the purpose of incorporating the rights and obligations of the diaspora into the new law.

Within its activities to initiate and assist transition, privatization and new laws, as well as economic cooperation between the mother country and the diaspora, the Serbian Unity Congress has drawn up the platform “Bridges of Reconstruction and Progress” and presented it to representatives of the federal and republican Governments. The Congress also supports the actions of the Business Council for the Diaspora of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the goal of which is to enable the faster adoption of new laws which will facilitate the country’s inclusion in international trends and will first attract capital of the diaspora, which will then be a signal to everyone else to invest in Serbia. As British Ambassador Crawford said in an interview to the “Danas” daily a year ago: “We cannot do much in this regard, except to hope that your people will take the necessary legal steps in order to create conditions for constant exchange. If you happened to have a rich uncle in America, who owns a factory, has 50 million dollars and wishes to invest them, would you tell him to come and invest in Yugoslavia. The answer is, probably not, even though he would be happy to invest in Yugoslavia; if you manage to mobilize entrepreneurs and experts from the diaspora to return, this would be a positive signal for Yugoslavs to invest, and, at the same time, an encouragement for western investors as well.”

This year’s 12th assembly of the Serbian Unity Congress will be devoted to some of these issues. It will be held from October 4 to 6 in Chicago. Delegates from all over the world and special guests will participate in this convention. Our delegates are respectable Serbs, investors, successful businesspeople, experts in various branches of the economy, education and culture. Issues of general importance for Serbianism, our fatherland and the Serbs in the diaspora are reviewed and discussed at the convention. This year, our assembly will try to find an answer to the question “What can we do?”

For some time after October 5, expectations were very high, although it was unrealistic to expect the abundant problems in the fatherland to be settled in a short period of time. Assistance from abroad is coming in driblets, there is too little of if, too late, while international pressures persist in numerous not in the least constructive ways. The situation faced by the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, and west of the Drina is still unresolved. The new Government has yet to carry out the task of making a turnabout in relation to the diaspora, which would lead to the establishment of mutual confidence and dialogue. And this would make possible the diaspora’s more efficient inclusion in the process of assistance to the country, through the realization of partnership between the mother country and the diaspora on projects of mutual benefit. The people are disturbed and exhausted. What can we do?
The Serbian Unity Congress is ready to respond to these new challenges.

Belgrade, August 8, 2002

IZJAVA ZA ŠTAMPU

Kongres srpskog ujedinjenja

Kongres srpskog ujedinjenja vec duže vreme radi na pitanjima koja su važna za Dijasporu, kao što su državljanstvo, pravo glasa, ukljucenje predstavnika dijaspore u rad komisije za izradu Ustavne povelje, pravo da predstavnici iz dijaspore budu birani u buducu jednodomu Skupštinu državne zajednice Srbije i Crne Gore, kao i u Skupštine Srbije i Crne Gore, na pitanjima formiranja Ministarstva za dijasporu, kao i donošenja ili izmena zakona i propisa o privatizaciji, stranim ulaganjima, porezima, carinama, deviznom poslovanju i sl.

U vezi sa predstojecim izborima za predsednika Republike Srbije, Kongres svesrdno podržava predlog Saveta dijaspore da Skupština Republike Srbije dopuni važeci Izborni zakon sledecim amandmanom:

"Izborno pravo biraca stalno nastanjenih izvan Republike Srbije (odnosno izvan SR Jugoslavije) može se ostvariti u diplomatsko-konzularnim predstavništvima SRJ u inostranstvu, ako to nije zabranjeno zakonima zemalja u kojima žive, a ako jeste onda u najbližoj susednoj zemlji, i to direktnim glasanjem, ili putem pisama, ili po ovlašcenju ili kombinacijom ovih mogucnosti".

KSU zahteva da se ova odredba primeni vec na izborima za predsednika Srbije, smatrajuci to prvim istinskim testom dobre volje aktuelne vlasti.

U okviru istih aktivnosti, obavljene su konsultacije sa pravnicima i ekspertnim grupama (npr. Institut za uporedno pravo), kako bi se pronašla formulacija problema i put ka rešenju gorucih pitanja Srbije. Kongres srpskog ujedinjenja je komentare dobijene iz svojih organaka u Kanadi, Becu, San Francisku i NJujorku, objedinio u komentare na novi predlog Izbornog zakona i oni su predati CESID-u, organizaciji koja je radila na nacrtu novog Zakona o izborima. Deo ovih komentara je uvažen. Zakon je sada na izradi u Republickom sekretarijatu za zakonodavstvo, i sa njima je ostvaren kontakt u cilju ukljucenja prava i obaveza dijaspore u novi Zakon.
U okviru svojih aktivnosti na iniciranju i pomoci oko tranzicije, privatizacije i novih zakona, kao i ekonomske saradnje matice i dijaspore, Kongres srpskog ujedinjenja sacinio je platformu “Mostovi obnove i napretka” i dao je predstavnicima savezne i republicke Vlade. Kongres takode podržava akcije Poslovnog saveta za dijasporu pri Privrednoj komori Srbije u cilju bržeg donošenja novih zakona koji ce omoguciti lakše ukljucenje zemlje u medunarodne tokove i privuci prvo kapital dijaspore, a to ce biti signal za sve druge da ulažu u Srbiju. Kao što je u jednom intervjuu datom listu Danas pre godinu dana rekao engleski ambasador Kraford: ”Mi tu ne možemo mnogo da uradimo, osim da se nadamo da ce vaši ljudi preduzeti neophodne zakonske korake da bi stvorili uslove za stalnu razmenu. Da kojim slucajem imate bogatog ujaka u Americi, koji je vlasnik fabrike i ima 50 miliona dolara i želi da ih uloži, da li biste mu rekli da dode i investira u Jugoslaviju. Odgovor je, verovatno, ne, iako bi on bio srecan da investira u Jugoslaviju; Ako vam pode za rukom da mobilizujete preduzetnike i strucnjake iz dijaspore da se vrate, bio bi to pozitivan signal za Jugoslovene da investiraju, a istovremeno i ohrabrenje za zapadne investitore.”

Nekim od ovih pitanja bice posvecena i ovogodišnja 12-ta skupština Kongresa srpskog ujedinjenja. Ona ce biti održana od 4. do 6. oktobra u Cikagu. Na ovoj konvenciji ce ucestvovati delegati iz celoga sveta i specijalno pozvani gosti. Naši delegati su videni Srbi, investitori, uspešni poslovni ljudi, eksperti u raznim granama privrede, obrazovanja i kulture. Na konvenciji se razmatraju i diskutuju pitanja od opšteg znacaja za Srpstvo, našu otadžbinu i Srbe u dijaspori. Ove godine ce naša skupština pokušati da odgovori na pitanje “Šta mi možemo da uradimo?”

Posle 5. oktobra ocekivanja su jedno vreme bila vrlo velika, mada je bilo nerealno ocekivati da se gomile problema u otadžbini mogu srediti za kratko vreme. Pomoc iz inostranstva kaplje, suviše je malo ima i stiže prekasno, dok medunarodni pritisci istrajavaju na mnogo nimalo konstruktivnih nacina. Situacija u kojoj se nalaze Srbi na Kosovu i Metohiji i zapadno od Drine i dalje je nerešena. Novoj Vladi još uvek predstoji zadatak da napravi zaokret u odnosu na dijasporu, što bi dovelo do uspostavljanja medusobnog poverenje i dijaloga. I to bi omogucilo efikasnije ukljucivanje dijaspore u proces pomoci zemlji, kroz ostvarivanje partnerstva izmedu matice i dijaspore na projektima koji su od obostrane koristi. Narod je uzmeniren i iscrpljen. Šta mi možemo da uradimo?
Kongres srpskog ujedinjenja je spreman da odgovori ovim novim izazovima.

Beograd, 8. avgust 2002.

THE PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

The Serbian Unity Congress announces the Press Conference that will take place at its Belgrade Office:

Additional Information: 3282-960, 3282-893

Belgrade, the 6th of August 2002.

KONFERENCIJA ZA STAMPU

Kongres srpskog ujedinjenja, organizacija Srba sa sedistem u Americi i preko 50 ogranaka sirom sveta, organizuje Konferenciju za stampu u prostorijama Beogradske kancelarije KSU:

Dodatne informacije: 3282-960, 3282-893

Beograd, 6. 08. 2002.