The Committee members were presented the Report by Deputy Secretary General Branko Marinkovic. He said that according to the Republic of Serbia 2015 Budget Law the National Assembly was allocated 1,781,786,000 RSD in operating funds.

“According to the Republic of Serbia Budget System Law Serbia is supposed to change over from line-item to programme budgeting in 2015. Programme budgeting means a new way of budget planning and allocation by establishing clear connections between governmental policies and programmes, the objectives of said programmes and expected results on one hand and the funds needed for their realisation on the other”, explained Marinkovic. This, he said, strengthens the control of public spending.

62.66% of the National Assembly’s budget was spent in the period covered by the Report, said Marinkovic stressing that this year’s budget was restrictive and in full compliance with the Serbian Government’s austerity measures.

The Committee members unanimously accepted the Report.

The Committee then proceeded to discuss the continued work on the MPs’ Code of Conduct. It was agreed to organise another session in the coming period where all the members of the Working Group for the Drafting of the Proposal of MPs’ Code of Conduct could offer their suggestions. Vocabulary is to be one of the key points to be addressed i.e. ascertaining which words would be considered unacceptable in communication and incur an automatic reprimand by the chair.

The sitting was chaired by Zoran Babic, Committee Chairman.