Employers' Union: Political pressures cannot replace the Constitution and the law

A well-organized legal system does not rest on political will, but on the consistent application of the Constitution, the Employers' Union assessed regarding the statements about the non-working week, adding that the attempt to relativize the role of social partners through comparison with the political legitimacy of elected representatives is worrying.

The MEF reacted to the frequent statements regarding the non-working Sunday and the effects of the current legal solutions, and in particular the allegations made by MP Miloš Pižurica that, regarding the MEF's initiative for the assessment of constitutionality, its representativeness and legitimacy of action should be reviewed.

"The Employers' Union points to a highly inconsistent, selective and politically conditioned approach to facts in public discourse on an issue that has direct and long-term consequences for the economy and the labor market," the statement said.

At the same time, they believe, challenging the right to use legally prescribed mechanisms, including the initiative for constitutional review, is also problematic. Such an approach goes beyond disagreements on public policies and enters into a space that questions the basic principles of the rule of law and institutional balance in a democratic system, which is unacceptable.

"When re-adopting essentially the same legal solution, no comprehensive economic and legal analyses were prepared or publicly presented that would have substantiated such a decision, even though the previous solution had already been subject to review and overturned by the Constitutional Court," said the MEF.

The problem, it adds, is not the existence or non-existence of individual analyses, but their selective use, depending on the current political context. Such an approach does not contribute to the quality of public policies or strengthen trust in the decision-making process, but rather further deepens legal and economic uncertainty.

"It is particularly untenable that the lack of systemic analysis in the law-making phase is now being used as a basis for challenging the views of the business community, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that this very legal solution was adopted without an adequate analytical basis, both during its initial introduction and in the re-proceeding, despite the clear position of the Constitutional Court," the statement states.

Regarding the allegations that question the representativeness of the Employers' Union, the organization recalled that the Union has been operating as an employers' organization for 24 years, of which 20 years continuously in representative status, with a clear mandate to represent micro, small, medium and large enterprises, as well as numerous sectoral, professional and territorial associations of employers and businessmen, which are its collective members.

"During that period, numerous government and parliament compositions changed, but the MEF remained a consistent and institutional social partner, focused on improving the business environment and sustainable economic development. The Employers' Union has continuously shown its willingness to be both a critical interlocutor and a constructive partner, pointing out problems, but also offering concrete and applicable solutions in the interest of the economy and the wider society," MEF said.

Attempts to challenge or "discipline" the Union are not new - they arise when the views of the economy are not in line with certain political interests. In such circumstances, the problem is no longer one of differing views on public policies, but rather one of the relationship to the basic principles of the legal order and the role of institutions.

"Questioning the right to initiate proceedings before the Constitutional Court, accompanied by challenging the legitimacy of the one who exercises that right, sends a worrying message to all subjects who believe that certain rights have been limited or denied to them - that the protection of constitutionality and legality becomes secondary to current political interests and goals," the Union believes.

In this context, as they said, attempts to discourage or delegitimize the launch of an initiative for a constitutional review by challenging the legitimacy of the Union cannot be interpreted otherwise than as an attempt to divert attention from the essence, i.e. from the issue of the compliance of the legal solution itself with the Constitution and the already taken position of the Constitutional Court, but also as confirmation of ignoring those decisions.

"Such an approach, however, undermines legal certainty and trust in institutions in the long term, with consequences that affect the entire society, and is not a principle on which a serious legislative and social system can be based," the statement said.

According to them, responsibility for such a development cannot be relativized, because a stable legal and economic environment must be above any individual political interest.

"A well-organized legal system does not rest on political will, but on the consistent application of the Constitution and laws, as an obligation of everyone, especially those who perform public functions, whose decisions directly shape the legal, economic and social order," the statement concludes.