Brnabic Calls Session for UAE Official as Confidence Vote Is Skipped Again
A special session of Serbia's parliament has one item, an address by a UAE official, while the no-confidence debate the opposition has sought since April is left off the agenda.
- A special session of the National Assembly has been called for Wednesday, June 3, at noon, with a single agenda item.
- The only item is an address by Saqr Ghobash, president of the UAE Federal National Council.
- The no-confidence debate sought by 62 opposition MPs since April is again left off the agenda.
- Zdravko Ponos (SRCE) accused Brnabic of turning parliament into an advisory body with no legislative function.
Speaker of the National Assembly Ana Brnabic has called a special session of parliament for Wednesday, June 3, at noon, with only one item on the agenda. That item is an address by Saqr Ghobash, president of the United Arab Emirates Federal National Council, before MPs in Belgrade.
With that, for what feels like the umpteenth time since April, the debate on confidence in the government requested by a group of 62 opposition MPs has once again been set aside. The request was filed two months ago, yet it has never made it onto a session agenda. Convening a protocol session for a foreign guest, rather than taking up the filed request, has reopened a dispute over what parliament is actually for.
What is on the agenda
A special session is a format used in practice for ceremonial occasions and addresses by senior foreign officials. At this sitting, MPs will neither vote nor debate domestic matters; they will attend the address by the guest from the Emirates.
In concrete terms, the agenda looks like this:
- Sole item: an address by UAE Federal National Council president Saqr Ghobash.
- Time: Wednesday, June 3, at noon.
- Format: a special session, with no vote on domestic issues.
Unlike regular and extraordinary sittings, a special session does not involve decisions on laws or on confidence in the executive. That is precisely the point on which the standoff between the ruling majority and the opposition now turns.
Why does the opposition say parliament is being hollowed out?
A sharp reaction came from the opposition. Zdravko Ponos, leader of the SRCE movement, argued that the Assembly leadership sidesteps the no-confidence request by filling sessions with protocol items. Ponos also drew a comparison with the guest himself, noting that the UAE Federal National Council has no classic legislative function but an advisory role.
Brnabic is turning Serbia’s Assembly into a consultative, advisory body, like the Emirates’ Federal National Council, which has no legislative function.
In the opposition’s view, the problem is not that a guest from the Emirates is addressing MPs, but that the request by 62 lawmakers has gone unscheduled for months. The opposition contends that postponing the confidence debate is not a technical scheduling matter but a deliberate avoidance of a topic that would put the government to a test in parliament.
On the other hand, calling a session for a foreign official is in line with the Assembly’s customary practice of receiving senior guests, and on its own it does not rule out scheduling a confidence debate at one of the coming sittings. The Assembly leadership has so far given no precise indication of when the opposition’s request might come up.
It remains an open question how many more sittings can pass before the request by 62 MPs reaches the floor. Do you think a debate on confidence in the government should take priority over protocol sessions?
