Committee member Radoslav Cokic of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Parliamentary Group nominated National Assembly Speaker Maja Gojkovic for Committee Chairperson due to the important tasks and challenges the Committee has to tackle on the path to the European Union and so that it could work better than before. Cokic stressed that electing the National Assembly Speaker Committee Chairperson would attach more importance to the working body and the area it is tasked with – environmental protection.

Committee member Zoran Despotovic of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Parliamentary Group said he had nothing against the nominated candidate but believes no other proposal for Committee Chairperson would detract from the Committee’s importance.

Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic of the Socialist Party of Serbia said that this was the best possible proposal and that she has had many a positive experience of her work with the Assembly Speaker in the delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union and believes she would be an excellent Chairperson of the Environmental Protection Committee and would contribute to the field since she is very dedicated to any task she undertakes.

Ljubinko Rakonjac of the Green Party, SPS list, also endorsed the nomination, saying that he believes this would give the Committee the strength to be more than just an exponent of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and become the Ministry’s controller and help it work on important tasks.

Having been elected Committee Chairperson, Maja Gojkovic thanked the members for their support, saying that it is her wish to get the Committee moving and make sure the working body operates better in the future, reviews the reports of the Ministry of Environmental Protection on a regular basis and becomes one of the most active committees.

Gojkovic said that the Committee has not functioned in the past several months and now has to be more active because it has a key role in the future and the coming opening of the negotiation chapter on environmental protection.

Gojkovic said that the Committee has a lot of environmental tasks and challenges to tackle and also has to appoint a Committee member to the National Assembly Commission to Investigate the Consequences of the 1999 NATO Bombing on the Health of the Citizens of Serbia, as well as the Environment, with a Special Focus on the Impact of the Depleted Uranium Projectiles, as well as a member to take part in the Conference on Climate Change in Geneva. Gojkovic asked Committee Deputy Member of the Democratic Party (DS) Parliamentary Group Gordana Comic that her Parliamentary Group have a consultation on the Committee Deputy Chairperson since the Committee’s basic function is supervisory and it is common and good to have a proactive member of the opposition as Deputy Chairperson.

Pending the election of new Committee Chairperson, the Committee sitting, convened pursuant to Article 71, paragraph 2 of the National Assembly Rules of Procedure, was chaired by the oldest Committee member, Borisav Kovacevic of the Party of United Pensioners Parliamentary Group, who explained that the Committee had to elect a new Chairperson due to the fact that the former Chairperson Ivana Stojiljkovic tendered her resignation to post of MP on 24 December 2018.

The sitting was attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Zarko Bogatinovic, Prof. Dr Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic, Maja Gojkovic, Borka Grubor, Zoran Despotovic, Aleksandra Jevtic, Jasmina Karanac, Borisav Kovacevic, Nada Lazic, Gordana Comic, Ivana Nikolic, Dr Ljubinko Rakonjac, Dragan Jovanovic, Milena Turk, Radoslav Cokic and Violeta Lutovac Djurdjevic.