National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia / Activities / Activity details
Friday, 25 November 2011
Conference Held on Standards of Ethics/Conduct for Parliamentarians
The National Assembly House hosted a two-day conference on Standards of Ethics/Conduct for Parliamentarians organised by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia and USAID.
The Conference was opened by the National Assembly Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic Dejanovic who emphasised the importance of establishing standards of conduct for the popular representatives which is an important social and civilisational step forward. On the occasion, Djukic Dejanovic reminded all present of the importance of building trust between the citizens and their representatives which can be achieved through parliamentary transparency and expressed her belief that the conference would, through experiences, proposals and suggestions, result in guidelines aimed at meeting our citizens’ expectations.
Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Dimitrios Kypreos applauded the initiative to organise the conference and congratulated the National Assembly on all the steps it undertook to ensure transparency of public institutions, as well as the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Agency. In addition, Kypreos stressed that the establishment of the Working Group for the Drafting of Code of Conduct was very important adding that the OSCE Mission would continue to support the National Assembly‘s initiative.
The two-day conference on Standards of Ethics/Conduct for Parliamentarians gathered MPs and established experts from
On the first day of the conference, the assembly was addressed by the Chairman of the Administrative Committee Nenad Konstantinovic who stressed the importance of working on strengthening the parliament and cooperation with the media, and then spoke of the parliament’s representative, legislative and control role, stating that the Serbian parliament, when it comes to its legislative function, has met its obligations in the previous period by passing eight hundred laws, which was recognised by the European Commission, and as a result Serbia received positive marks and was recommendation for candidate status at the European Union.
The participants were also greeted by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gordana Comic who emphasised the importance of passing a parliamentary code of conduct, stressing that the first step should be its public acceptance. She went on to highlight the importance of public dialogue between the parliamentarians, citizens and expert public, and then expressed her displeasure at the constraints on the MPs’ public appearances “We have to listen, hear and respect and I believe that to be the beginning of all ethics”, concluded Comic.
In the ensuing discussion, all the participants had the opportunity to ask questions and air their views on the adoption of a code of conduct for the MPs.
On the second day of the conference the assembly was also addressed by the Chairman of the Legislative Committee Vlatko Ratkovic who first thanked the OSCE Mission to
The panelists’ addresses were followed by a discussion where the participants exchanged opinions on the advantages and disadvantages relating to the topics debated at the two-day conference.
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11.00 - visit of the students of the Leskovac School of Economics to the National Assembly House (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square)
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11.00 - the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee meets with the Armenian Ambassador to Serbia (National Assembly Building, 14 Kralja Milana Street, hall 53, 2nd floor)
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12.00 - visit of the students of the Cacak Grammar School to the National Assembly House (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square)
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12.00 - sitting of the Committee on Administrative, Budgetary, Mandate and Immunity Issues (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, hall 2)
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12.30 - press conference of the MPs of the Ecological Uprising Parliamentary Group (National Assembly House 13, Nikola Pasic Square, Central Hall)