The National Assembly Speaker addressed the participants:

“Your Excellencies,

Esteemed guests,

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

It is nice to see us all together, representatives of various associations and Members of Parliament, at one place. This is natural because we all represent a segment of the population, those from whose civil capacities the institutions draw their power. That is why I wish you a most heartfelt welcome to the National Assembly House, your home, where we gathered wondering how to create a stimulating environment for the development of civil society in Serbia.

Our country is estimated to have about 15,000 registered associations and I believe that in the previous years we managed to recognise one another and learn how to best, through mutual expertise and responsibility, contribute to create a better legislative framework and development of all the elements of participative democracy in society.

However, we also hear that we still lack formal, institutional, binding models of communication and cooperation which should define a lasting unobstructed flow of information and enable cooperation between legislative and executive authorities and civil society organisations.

There is no doubt that we still communicate with one another mostly as the need arises, most often about European integration issues, poverty reduction and social policy, topics important for local communities. The Law on Associations was passed in July 2009, Law on Endowments and Foundations in November 2010 but is that enough to establish the cooperation we need? We need each other because of the role that civil society has in modern democracies, because civil society has significant capacities for social, economic and cultural involvement – in a word political action and because the development of the sector would enable a more citizens to join the trends that determine their future.

At the end of today’s gathering we will know more about the advantages and flaws of the two different approaches to the creation of cooperation mechanisms with the civilian sector – the one that starts from the top, from the Government, and the one initiated when the civil sector reaches critical mass. Our esteemed Croatian guest, Mr. Vidacak, will surely contribute to it and thank him profusely for his kindness and willingness to present his national experiences to us.

As far as NARS is concerned, I would like to stress some positive examples of our practice: at one time the Poverty Reduction Committee launched a consulting forum aimed at providing better information on problem solving initiatives; representatives of civil society were permanent participants of the Forum; and that is not all: in the law adopting process the role of civil society is illustrated by the fact that we regularly invite relevant organisations to the public hearings we organise.

The NARS took the subtle suggestions that the relations should be regulated and systematized and to develop cooperation with civil society quite seriously. Therefore, this should be a gathering where the citizens may realise that this house and this hall should be the place where the representatives of the legislative and executive power would gather in annual conference with representatives of civil society to discuss topic important for Serbia and the people living on its territory.

Thank you in advance for your constructive contribution to the gathering and thank you for your attention.”