Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Political Economy of Serbia

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Even though the country is a parliamentary republic, there are a few things in the political economy that keep Serbia from really growing or developing for the benefit of the people of the country.  The first is the prevalence of corruptions, especially at the local government level.[i]   The corruption keeps the country from being able to get a lot of foreign investment.  Countries like the UK and the United States have laws against bribery in other countries, so they cannot be sources of investment in Serbia as long as there is so much corruption.

The second main issue is the relationship with Kosova.[ii]  Both of these political economic issues are holding Serbia back by taking them out of consideration from being invited into the European Union.  Until these issues get resolved, Serbia will be tied to other corrupt countries and will not have interest from the more developed world in making investments in the country.

[i] BUSINESS, CORRUPTION AND CRIME IN SERBIA: The impact of bribery and other crime on private enterprise, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/corruption/Serbia_Business_corruption_report_ENG.pdf

[ii] The current relationship with Kosova and how it holds back Serbia is covered in “Relaunching the Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue,” International Crisis Group, Europe Report N°262, 25 January 2021 (https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/balkans/kosovo/262-relaunching-kosovo-serbia-dialogue) and download full report.

The Constitution of Serbia

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There have been many versions of the Constitution in Serbia with the most recent one being made on September 30, 2006. The Constitution can be amended by at least two-thirds of the National Assembly (the name of the parliament in Serbia) after being proposed by at least one-third of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic, or by a petition of at least 150,000 voters.  Some issues also must have a referendum which means that a majority (over 50%) of the people of the country have to vote for it.

The Cabinet of the Republic of Serbia

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The Cabinet of the Republic of Serbia

The cabinet of the Republic of Serbia is made up of 21 ministers presiding over various administrative aspects of segments of the government.  Ministers are from the major political parties including the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Serbian Patriotic Alliance (SPAS), Movement of Socialists (PS), Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDPS) and the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS).  A small number of cabinet ministers are not identified by any political party affiliation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Minister of Internal Affairs

Minister of Defense

Minister of Finance

Minister of Economy

Minister of Rural Welfare

Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development

Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure

Minister of Environmental Protection

Minister of European Integration

Minister of Family Welfare and Demography

Minister of Health

Minister of Human and Minority Rights

Minister of Justice

Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy

Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government

Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications

Minister of Youth and Sports

Minister without portfolio

Minister of Mining and Energy

Minister of Culture and Information

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy

Ministry of the Village Care

Ministry of Family and Demography

Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue

The Executive Branch of the Republic of Serbia

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The leader of the country is President Aleksander Vuvic who was elected by the National Assembly (Serbia’s parliament, the legislative branch in Serbia) back in 2017. The President is the “chief of state” under Serbia’s constitution. The head of government is the Prime Minister, which is currently Ana Brnabic, who also was elected by the General Assembly in 2017.
The executive branch also includes a cabinet. The cabinet is made up of _____________. The cabinet is also elected by the General Assembly in the Serbian government.
Legislative Branch
There is one legislative body in Serbia called the National Assembly. The National Assembly has 250 Members, each which is elected in a nationwide election. Unlike the United States, there is no regional representation. This means that the National Assembly is controlled by the political party or group of political parties that is (are) the most popular throughout the country. Elections take place by party list. This means that the areas that might have populations that favor a political party or ethnic group are not guaranteed representation on the General Assembly. In Serbia, that means that the National Assembly is dominated primarily by ethnic Serbs. Because the National Assembly elects the President and Prime Minister, there is not much possibility that the leaders of the country will ever be anything but members of the Serb ethnic group.
Judicial Branch
The highest court in Serbia’s judicial branch is the Supreme Court of Cassation. The Supreme Court of Cassation has several panels of judges that are divided into panels. There are a total of over 60 judges on the court that take cases on criminal cases, civil cases like disputes between parties and administrative cases. There is a separate part of the highest courts that just hears issues about the Constitution of the country. There are 15 judges on this Constitutional Court.
Supreme Court judges get elected by the National Assembly after they are proposed by the Judicial High Council. The high council has 11 people on and 7 have to be judges. The Constitutional Court is a little bit different. Members of that court are appointed five each by the National Assembly, the President of the Country and the Supreme Court of Cassation.
This is a lot different than the United States where the President nominates judges to the Supreme Court that have to be approved by the legislature.
There are also courts below the two highest level of courts. There are courts of appeals, a separate administrative court and commercial court, and courts that deal with lower-level crimes like misdemeanors in the United States.
Another special court got created after the Serbian war to deal with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Political Economy of Serbia

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Even though the country is a parliamentary republic, there are a few things in the political economy that keep Serbia from really growing or developing for the benefit of the people of the country.  The first is the prevalence of corruptions, especially at the local government level.[i]   The corruption keeps the country from being able to get a lot of foreign investment.  Countries like the UK and the United States have laws against bribery in other countries, so they cannot be sources of investment in Serbia as long as there is so much corruption.

The second main issue is the relationship with Kosova.[ii]  Both of these political economic issues are holding Serbia back by taking them out of consideration from being invited into the European Union.  Until these issues get resolved, Serbia will be tied to other corrupt countries and will not have interest from the more developed world in making investments in the country.

Footnotes

[i] BUSINESS, CORRUPTION AND CRIME IN SERBIA: The impact of bribery and other crime on private enterprise, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/corruption/Serbia_Business_corruption_report_ENG.pdf

[ii] The current relationship with Kosova and how it holds back Serbia is covered in “Relaunching the Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue,” International Crisis Group, Europe Report N°262, 25 January 2021 (https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/balkans/kosovo/262-relaunching-kosovo-serbia-dialogue) and download full report.

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia

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There have been many versions of the Constitution in Serbia with the most recent one being made on September 30, 2006. The Constitution can be amended by at least two-thirds of the National Assembly (the name of the parliament in Serbia) after being proposed by at least one-third of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic, or by a petition of at least 150,000 voters.  Some issues also must have a referendum which means that a majority (over 50%) of the people of the country have to vote for it.

Branches of Government in Serbia

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Serbia has three branches of government including the executive branch, the judicial branch and legislative branch.

Executive Branch

The leader of the country is President Aleksander Vuvic who was elected by the National Assembly (Serbia’s parliament, the legislative branch in Serbia) back in 2017.  The President is the “chief of state” under Serbia’s constitution.  The head of government is the Prime Minister, which is currently Ana Brnabic, who also was elected by the General Assembly in 2017.

The executive branch also includes a cabinet.  The cabinet is made up of _____________.  The cabinet is also elected by the General Assembly in the Serbian government.

Legislative Branch

There is one legislative body in Serbia called the National Assembly.  The National Assembly has 250 Members, each which is elected in a nationwide election.  Unlike the United States, there is no regional representation.  This means that the National Assembly is controlled by the political party or group of political parties that is (are) the most popular throughout the country.  Elections take place by party list.  This means that the areas that might have populations that favor a political party or ethnic group are not guaranteed representation on the General Assembly.  In Serbia, that means that the National Assembly is dominated primarily by ethnic Serbs.   Because the National Assembly elects the President and Prime Minister, there is not much possibility that the leaders of the country will ever be anything but members of the Serb ethnic group.

Judicial Branch

The highest court in Serbia’s judicial branch is the Supreme Court of Cassation.  The Supreme Court of Cassation has several panels of judges that are divided into panels.  There are a total of over 60 judges on the court that take cases on criminal cases, civil cases like disputes between parties and administrative cases.  There is a separate part of the highest courts that just hears issues about the Constitution of the country.  There are 15 judges on this Constitutional Court.

Supreme Court judges get elected by the National Assembly after they are proposed by the Judicial High Council.  The high council has 11 people on and 7 have to be judges.  The Constitutional Court is a little bit different.  Members of that court are appointed five each by the National Assembly, the President of the Country and the Supreme Court of Cassation.

This is a lot different than the United States where the President nominates judges to the Supreme Court that have to be approved by the legislature.

There are also courts below the two highest level of courts.  There are courts of appeals, a separate administrative court and commercial court, and courts that deal with lower-level crimes like misdemeanors in the United States.

Another special court got created after the Serbian war to deal with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Serbian Government Basics

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Basics About Serbia’s Government
The general form of government of Serbia is a parliamentary republic. In a parliamentary republic, the leader of the country is elected by the parliament. In Serbia, the President is currently Aleksander Vuvic. He has been the President of Serbia since he was elected by the parliament in 2017. Unlike a democracy, where the people vote for president, in a parliamentary republic the parliament elects the president. As a practical matter, the political party or a coalition of political parties that control the parliament end up selecting the President.
A lot of countries are parliamentary republics, including some of the main countries in Europe like Germany, Poland, Italy, Ireland, and Austria. None of them have exactly the same structure or way that the parliament votes. But they are all similar in the common aspect that the parliament selects the leader of the country, whether the leader is called the president, prime minister, or other name.

Corruption in Serbia

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One cannot talk about the Serbian government, at least how it affects doing business in Serbia, without talking about corruption.  Even though Serbia has laws against corruption, corruption cuts through the government and especially in the lower administrative parts of the government.  This corruption makes it very hard for the country to make economic progress because it limits the desirability of countries that have a lot of capital to make investments.  Countries that are more economically developed like the United Kingdom and the United States have laws that make it a crime for their people to pay bribes to foreign government officials.  They go to jail for it.  What happens is that the government officials can make money because the take bribes to make approvals and things go faster but because the wealthier nations have laws against bribery, the economic development of Serbia can’t really come onto the international stage.  This slows development that could help the people of the country.  It also makes it really risky for people from outside of the country to invest in the country unless, such as countries like Russia and China, they do not have strong laws against corruption.

Certified Compliance Attorney Health Care Compliance Certification

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Certified Compliance Attorney – CHC Compliance Lawyer

Expert Compliance Representation – Health Care Compliance

Attorney John H. Fisher leads the Health Care Compliance Practice at Ruder Ware.   John is a practicing health care attorney who has substantial expertise in the compliance area.  He is certified in both Health Care Compliance and Corporate Compliance and Ethics.

Aggressive Governmental Fraud and Abuse Investigations

Government enforcement practices and ever changing regulatory requirements require health care providers of all types and specialties to function in a highly complex environment.  Government enforcement operates under a “return on investment” mentality which leads to extremely aggressive and sometimes unfairly overbroad enforcement actions.  This leaves even the most well intentioned health care provider feeling targeted and overburdened with regulatory requirements.

Attorney Fisher Provides a Full Range of Compliance Services

Attorney Fisher has provided a broad range of compliance related legal services to a variety of health care providers including hospitals, mental health programs, skilled nursing facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, a variety of medical groups, diagnostic facilities, home health care providers, personal care agencies, clinically integrated provider groups, accountable care organizations.  Each provider has unique features and characteristics that require creative approaches to mitigate the impact of overzealous governmental enforcement and private whistleblowers.

Preparation for an Eventual External Examination of Your Compliance Process

Our compliance practice functions under the philosophy that all providers will eventually be called upon to defend their compliance programs.  This may come through a self-disclosure after an infraction that is discovered through self assessment or audit.  A challenge to the effectiveness of a compliance program can arise as a result of a whistleblower claim or at the hands of a government criminal or civil prosecutor.  Regardless of the source of challenge, at some point in the future, a compliance program will be put to the test.  When this happens, it must be effective to detect and correct potential compliance problems.  This requires a well designed plan as well as a showing that the plan is actively operating to identify risk areas, audit for anomalies in areas where risk may be present, and comes full circle to take appropriate action to correct potential problems that are identified.  If this is happening when your time comes; when your compliance program is put to the test, you will have gone a long ways toward mitigation of potential negative consequences.

Penalties Are Increasing and the Scope Activity Considered Abusive Continues to Expand

Some may wonder how the government plans to pay for changes in the health care system.  One of the primary sources of payment in the future will be through enforcement of actual or perceived fraud and abuse.  Currently, the Federal government received an 800% return on every dollar that it invests on pursuing health care fraud and abuse.  With increased penalties and more draconian enforcement systems in place, the government is poised to turn the enforcement business into an even more lucrative proposition.  The stage is set with laws that increase penalties to such an astronomical level that even a minor case will be settled rather than risk being dragged through a proceeding that could expose a provider to damage that are many times the amount of settlement.

The Danger of Whistleblower Claimants

Whistleblowers also are incentivized to file cases as they seek to benefit personally from provider activity that may not fully conform to regulatory expectations. No provider is immune, no matter how effective its corporate responsibility program. For these reasons, all providers need experienced Compliance Counsel to assist them in trying to prevent regulatory violations, to determine the scope of and assist with correcting identified compliance issues and to defend them in the event they do become a target of government investigative activities.

Whistleblowers can come from a number of different places.  Disgruntled employees are a prime candidate to bring a whistleblower complaint.  How these complaints are handled is extremely important to minimizing their potential negative impact on you operations.  Once a Whistleblower attorney becomes financially committed to a case, they tend not to let go easily.  Settlement can be very difficult to attain on reasonable terms.  It is fair to say that in many cases the government gives more latitude to settle cases if the provider cooperates.

There are some reasonable government enforcement individuals who appropriately utilize their discretion when a provider cooperates and has not intentionally bilked the system.  Whistleblowers on the other hand, have their sites set on the full maximum amount of calculated False Claims Act damages.  They are looking for a pay day.  We can help you avoid this type of situation altogether by helping establish an effective compliance program that takes appropriate action to mitigate exposure if infractions are discovered.