10 October 2022 Environmental Protection Committee Chairman Aleksandar Jovanovic in meeting with French Ambassador Pierre Cochard

10 October 2022 Environmental Protection Committee Chairman Aleksandar Jovanovic in meeting with French Ambassador Pierre Cochard

Monday, 10 October 2022

Environmental Protection Not a Political Issue - Jovanovic and Cochard Agree

The Chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee Aleksandar Jovanovic met today at the National Assembly House with French Ambassador Pierre Cochard. Having informed the Ambassador about the National Assembly’s mode of operation, Jovanovic pointed out that the cooperation between the opposition MPs is good and that he is especially encouraged by the fact that completely new people have appeared in the Parliament, who came directly from activism, primarily from the sphere of ecology, which is what, he said, citizens have waited for a long time.


The Committee Chairman went on to say that, after the formation of the Government, when the National Assembly starts to work at full capacity, he would propose that a Bill which would make water resources a Constitutional category be placed on the agenda for a session. To underline the importance of this issue, he pointed out that the citizens of Slovenia had declared in referendum that water, as a natural resource, belongs equally to every citizen of Slovenia and that as such it cannot be the subject of trade or interests of foreign companies. He also announced that he would move that the people's initiative, signed by 40 thousand citizens, be put on the agenda, calling for the adoption of a law on the permanent ban on the exploitation of lithium on the territory of the entire Republic of Serbia.

Speaking about the work of the Environmental Protection Committee, Jovanovic emphasised that he sees it exclusively through work in the field, so that citizens could, through direct communication with the MPs, representatives of the ministries and local self-government, get a clearer picture of what the plan is for their village, mountain, river.

The Ambassador was interested in Jovanovic's position regarding the ecological transition and informed him about a series of environmental protection projects and good practice examples offered by the Green Agenda. In light of that, Jovanovic emphasised that it would be extremely important to implement a renewable energy project in at least one village by providing the residents with solar panels. In that way, the users of this type of energy, he believes, would be able to see everything through a concrete example benefits of green agendas, because for the citizens that is still very distant idea.

Ambassador Cochard was also interested in the Committee Chairman’s opinion on Serbia’s European path, especially after the opening of the cluster related to environmental protection. Jovanovic stressed that he believes the European path to be the only path for Serbia, which the Ambassador agreed with, pointing out that France sees Serbia as a future full member of the European Union.



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friday, 29 march
  • 9.00 - the National Assembly Speaker meets with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Speaker’s Cabinet)

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