There is no going back, only forward - the only thing standing in the way is the public interest (EXPO 2027)

Authors: Jovana Timotijević and Bozena Stojić, Ministry of Space collective

Living for 30 years in the neoliberal development of the city, we should have already gotten used to the constant deregulation of management procedures and systems. Those systems, at least nominally or as a residual trace of Yugoslav urban policies, should protect the public interest, and ensure that the benefits of public policies are more or less equally distributed to the majority of those living in Serbia. It may be that we are no longer surprised by the constant loosening of standards and control mechanisms, but that does not mean that they are milder or less dangerous in their effects.

Amendments to the Law on Special Procedures for the Implementation of the International Specialized Exhibition EXPO BELGRADE 2027, together with amendments to the Law on Planning and Construction (ZPI), are currently in the parliamentary procedure. Although every law, even the one on amendments and additions, especially if it "significantly changes the legal regime in one area or which regulates issues of particular interest to the public", would have to undergo a public discussion of at least 20 days before adoption (Article 77 of the Law on state administration and Article 41 of the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the RS), that did not happen in this case. If the RS Government made a serious effort to explain to the competent committee why an exception should be made in this situation (paragraph 4, article 41 of the Rules of Procedure of the Government), it is difficult to imagine the meaning of that unreasonable explanation.

Be that as it may, what can be read both in the initial articles of the lex specialis and in the proposed amendments must really be seen as a textbook example of deregulation - from the planning process, to the very construction of facilities and their commissioning.

It is additionally worrying that it is not clear what the scope of the effects of such policies is, because it is also unclear to which objects this provision refers. As stated, the lex specialis and its amendments refer to "objects within the Spatial Plan of the special purpose area of ​​the National Football Stadium, as well as objects that are not included in the Spatial Plan, and are in the function of the realization of the EXPO BELGRADE 2027 project", which represents a very stretchable framework. With an "adequate" explanation, it can also include a residential building, a hotel, a tourist attraction, a small sports facility, cultural property or almost any facility that carries possible numerous risks and potential harmful effects.

We will try to go through, step by step, the standard procedures from planning to construction of everything related to the EXPO, and point out the possible consequences of legal interventions that the initial lex specialis and proposals in the parliamentary procedure bring.
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Step 1 Decision on preparation of planning documents

The planning process always begins with the decision of the competent authority that a certain plan should be adopted. In the process of preparing this Decision, the opinions of the competent authorities are obtained on the justification of the development of the proposed plan. Also, an integral part of the Decision are the decisions on whether it is necessary to prepare a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment as part of the plan, and since a year and a half ago, which was generally welcomed, a Study on the Protection of Immovable Cultural Property. This regulation has not even managed to be tested in practice, and it has already caused problems and stood in the way of "progress". The current, sixteenth in a row, amendments to the Law on Planning and Construction are no longer so favorable to the protection of immovable cultural assets, at least when it comes to the EXPO event and the facilities that serve to maintain it. Namely, it is proposed that when creating a plan for buildings and areas that the Government of the RS has determined are projects for the construction of buildings of importance, that is, of special importance for the Republic of Serbia (such as, for example, buildings in the function of holding the EXPO manifestation), it is not necessary at all create a study of the protection of immovable cultural property! If the authorities made a decision that the Kalemegdan fortress is a location that needs to be arranged in a certain way in order to include it and put it into the function of the EXPO manifestation, and initiate the development of a plan for that area, it would not be necessary to prepare a study on the protection of immovable cultural property for Kalemegdan . Remember the idea of ​​the gondola on Kalemegdan? What else is necessary in Kalemegdan, and is it attractive to the many tourists who flock to the EXPO?

Step 2 Early public review

It is being deleted.
(Who will listen to objections to the planning documentation twice, when the EXPO deadlines are approaching!)
Lex specialis (Article 4) states that the presentation of the planning document for public inspection is carried out after expert control, which means that the early public inspection, as the first step of a possible public intervention in the concept of the plan, is completely skipped.

Step 3 Public review

Public inspection represents the second of two occasions when the plan is presented to the public (in the form of a draft plan, after expert control), when it is possible to send objections to the planning solution and defend those objections through a public session. According to ZPI, public inspection lasts at least 30 days, but that seems to be too long, because citizens and experts have too much time to properly analyze the documentation, come up with proposals and objections, and build arguments.
For the purposes of the EXPO exhibition, the lex specialis (Article 5) therefore determines that the duration of the public's (only) inspection of planning documents is halved - to 15 days.

Step 4 Adoption of the plan

The plan is adopted by the competent assembly and it becomes the basis for everything that is built in the territory it covers.

Step 5 Conceptual solution for the facility or complex

According to the valid ZPI, in order to obtain the location conditions for the design of facilities such as residential, sports, public or cultural, it is necessary for the investor to hire a design firm that will create a conceptual solution. The conditions obtained on the basis of that solution practically ensure that the project that emerges after that is in accordance with the planning basis (with the plan for the territory where the facility is located).

Step 6 Obtaining a building permit

After the location conditions have been acquired, a request for obtaining a building permit for, say, exhibition pavilions within the EXPO complex is submitted. What does it take? Under regular conditions and regular procedure, a project for a building permit, as well as an Environmental Impact Assessment Study (for facilities subject to that condition) should be submitted to the competent authority. The approval of the competent authorities for that study is a necessary prerequisite for issuing a building permit. If such a study would show harmful effects of the planned facility on the immediate environment, in that case the consent would be absent. This would set the project back in the correcting design for a building permit. And that is inadmissible, the deadlines are short, and never go back - just go ahead!

Amendments to the lex specialis offer a solution to this problem. Namely, they foresee that a building permit can be issued for the construction of buildings within the EXPO complex and those that are in the function of the EXPO manifestation, and then the building can be built without a confirmed environmental impact assessment study, regardless of the purpose and function of the building and its impacts. to the immediate environment. Although formally this study is submitted along with the project, no one actually controls and approves it. In this way, the entire EXPO complex could receive a construction permit without the consent of the competent institutions that the construction of those facilities and their use does not pose a threat to the environment.

The amendment proposal further states that the investor is obliged to obtain the aforementioned consent, but only when he submits the application for obtaining a use permit. Therefore, only when the facilities are already built and put into operation. It's good - if it can't be abolished, it can be postponed and meaningless! Indeed, what is the purpose of this agreement at all, once the building is built? Will the buildings be demolished because they turn out to be harmful to the environment? Really?

Step 7 Usage permit

The construction permit was obtained, and the buildings were then built. In order for them to be put into operation, the standard procedure requires that the facilities obtain a use permit that guarantees that their use does not pose a risk to the safety of the users of the space. However, remaining faithful to the idea of ​​efficiency, the proposed amendments to the lex specialis practically legalize the putting into operation of facilities within the EXPO complex without issuing a use permit. Namely, it is sufficient for the technical inspection commission to issue a positive report on the fulfillment of the conditions for temporary use, instead of the investor, in accordance with the Law on Planning and Construction and the Rulebook that specifies the technical control procedure, submitting the entire project of the constructed conditions with a statement from expert supervision, contractors and investors that there were no deviations from the project for construction permit and execution, certificate of correctness of installations, report on geodetic observations... the list is too long for the short deadlines for the realization of the international exhibition. In addition, let's remember what the President of Serbia said at the beginning of November: "I am worried about the EXPO." After what happened, the terrible tragedy in Novi Sad... How do you tell someone to sign something? [...] So I have fear in that matter, but I will try and fight to push it through, not to allow the modernization and progress of Serbia to stop".

Although, you guessed it, this level of deregulation is justified (again and always) by efficiency, we are directly talking about jeopardizing security here. Namely, given that the permit for temporary use (which should not be confused with the existing trial work institute regulated by Article 157 of the ZPI) has a duration of 2 years, and as the pavilions within the EXPO complex are assembly-dismantleable and can be demolished after the end of the manifestation, it may happen that there is no need to even bother with the procedure and the necessary documentation for obtaining a use permit (and then there is the exemption from consent to the environmental impact assessment study).

If the objects "in the function of the implementation of the EXPO BELGRADE 2027 project" will be used without a use permit, and this includes objects through which a large number of visitors should pass, and some of them should stay (residential objects are also planned within the complex), then it is irrational and risky to deregulate to that extent a procedure that directly determines the degree of safety of the built structure.
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The Lex specialis for the EXPO complex, as well as its current amendments, together with the new amendments to the Law on Planning and Construction represent the suspension of valid laws for the sake of the realization of an exhibition, which is cited as the main motive for the amendments to the law. The laws in question and their proposed amendments grossly violate many of the principles of the legal framework of our country, whose primary goals should relate to the protection of public interest and public goods, but also our right to a healthy environment, as well as guaranteeing the safety of citizens in the built environment, public premises and facilities. Therefore, it seems that the competent ministries and the Government with this lex specialis and amendments to the Law on Planning and Construction are directly telling citizens that there are interests that are above the public, and that it is justified to abolish a number of legal provisions of the state to which they are responsible in order to fulfill the deadlines and obligations under one to the international body in charge of world exhibitions. Or is this just another window to permanently loosen planning and construction standards in the name of efficiency?

What a paradox it is that the very institutions of the state participate in their own dissolution. New regulations are being adopted that deregulate the existing control mechanisms. Entire strategies are written that prescribe standards in order to make those standards non-binding in the last article of the same documents, such as higher-level plan for greenery which paradoxically is not mandatory. A law is passed which practically abolishes the procedure of obtaining a use permit as a condition for using the facility. Conditions (such as an environmental impact assessment study) are required, which, once issued, can no longer condition anything. A law is passed that abolishes the obligation to take care of the environment...and people.