{"id":14159,"date":"2025-06-05T16:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/the-public-hearing-on-the-spatial-plan-for-the-national-stadium-shall-be-cancelled-immediately\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T19:46:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T18:46:32","slug":"the-public-hearing-on-the-spatial-plan-for-the-national-stadium-shall-be-cancelled-immediately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/the-public-hearing-on-the-spatial-plan-for-the-national-stadium-shall-be-cancelled-immediately\/","title":{"rendered":"The public hearing on the spatial plan for the national stadium shall be cancelled immediately"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs the \u201cmuch-anticipated\u201d 2027 EXPO year approaches, state authorities are unlawfully paving the way for Belgrade Expo 2027. Amendments to the Rulebook on spatial and urban planning procedures undermine public participation, excluding citizens and experts from decision-making. A public hearing on the National Stadium plan was unlawfully scheduled under a rulebook not yet in force at the time.<\/i><\/b>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter the withdrawal of the draft Amendments to the special procedure Law for the implementation of this project from parliamentary procedure, following public pressure, another abuse of the right to public participation in decision-making is taking place, this time by the Agency for Spatial Planning.<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn May 30, an amended Regulation on the content, method, and procedure for developing spatial and urban planning documents, which governs public participation in the development of urban and spatial plans was published.<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe amendments to the Regulation allow the commission to hold multiple sessions, with the schedule determined according to the submitters of the comments. In practice, this means that individuals, organisations and authorities who submitted comments will not participate in the public discussion at the same time and, as a result, will not have the opportunity to hear each other\u2019s contributions and objectives.<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe substantial concern stems from the provision allowing the Planning Commission\u2019s public session to be held electronically in cases of significant public interest (!?). This approach effectively excludes many individuals who lack the technical means to participate, denying them the opportunity to present their comments and objections. Meanwhile, others must rely on the goodwill of commission members to be selectively heard, risking exclusion (whether accidental or intentional) all under the guise of compliance with the applicable regulations of the Republic of Serbia.<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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These amendments reduce public participation in urban and spatial planning to a mere bureaucratic formality, stripping it of any real significance. It is evident that the Serbian government and the Ministry of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure are using these changes to suppress citizens and experts who oppose corrupt and detrimental projects, such as EXPO 2027 and the Belgrade Waterfront.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Regulation was promptly put into effect. On June 4, the Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism of the Republic of Serbia <\/span>announced<\/span><\/a><\/span> that the session of the Planning Commission for the Draft Spatial Plan for the special-purpose area of the National Football Stadium \u2013 Phase IV, which also includes the expanded EXPO 2027 complex, would be held electronically on June 11 at 9 a.m.<\/span><\/p>

However, the Agency overlooked a fundamental principle of the rule of law: regulations cannot be applied before they come into force. This particular regulation becomes effective on June 7.<\/strong><\/p>

For context, this same commission <\/span>session has already been postponed twice<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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RERI calls on the relevant authorities to immediately cancel the unlawful session and to put an end to yet another violation of the procedure in processes that could have serious consequences for public safety, human health, and the environment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOnce again, we urge the expert\u2019s community, civil society, members of parliament, and all citizens to oppose, by all legally permitted means, the continued implementation of projects that undermine the public interest, as well as the adoption of regulations designed solely to facilitate such developments.<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the \u201cmuch-anticipated\u201d 2027 EXPO year approaches, state authorities are unlawfully paving the way for Belgrade Expo 2027. Amendments to\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":14177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1545],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14159"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14169,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14159\/revisions\/14169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}