The topic of the sitting was “Cooperation of committees with independent regulatory bodies with the aim of better control of public spending”.
The sitting was held with the support of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and Regional Network of Parliamentary Committees on Economy, Finance and European Integration of the Western Balkans.
Opening the committees’ first joint sitting, Vesna Kovac, Chairperson of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending, commended the idea to hold sittings like this one, while Aleksandar Damjanovic, Chairman of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget, said that the sitting is an important step in establishing good relations between the two countries and improving the cooperation between the countries in the region.
On the behalf of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Emil Atanasovski, Head of the Western Balkans Programme, endorsed this type of cooperation between the committees and parliaments of the countries in the region, opining that this was an excellent beginning of their future cooperation.
The members of the two parliamentary committees were also greeted by Member of Parliament, Prof. Dr Vladimir Marinkovic, Chairman of the Regional Network of Parliamentary Committees on Economy, Finance and European Integration of the Western Balkans. He stressed that this was the Regional Network’s first concrete result in the realisation of the 2015 Strategy Plan.
The members of the two parliamentary committees unanimously declared the sitting a good beginning of the cooperation between the committees and parliaments in the region, adding that it contributed to a speedier European integration of the Western Balkan countries. In the discussion, they exchanged opinions and experiences gained in the committees’ operation, with a special focus on their role in controlling the work of independent regulatory bodies. They exchanged information of the work and scope of relevant committees, opining that the committees cooperate with the independent regulatory bodies in order to better control public spending.

The sitting was chaired by Vesna Kovac, Committee Chairperson.