The Chair of the Parliamentary Group for Open Parliament Prof. Dr Vladimir Marinkovic informed the guests about the work of the Group stressing that its key goal is to open up the Parliament to the public, which in turn means better communication with the citizens. Marinkovic also underlined the importance of parliamentary transparency, stressing that the Group members first and foremost stand for suppressing corruption and conflicts of interest. On the occasion, he underlined the importance of the support the Group has from its partner organisations - Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) and the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

The Chair, who is also the Head of the Economic Caucus, also spoke about the duties and results achieved by the parliamentary group so far. He reminded the guests that the main goal of the Caucus is to create a favourable business environment and improve the key factors of Serbia’s economic development by advocating institutional reform and cooperating with the economy. Finally, Marinkovic highlighted the importance of the cooperation the Economic Caucus has with the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) and the International Republican Institute (IRI).

After the Chair of the Parliamentary Group for Open Parliament, the guests were briefed on the work, duties and achieved results of the Green Parliamentary Group by MA Dejan Radenkovic, who said it was the first informal parliamentary group set up at the National Assembly as far back as 2009. “The group has 28 members, 19 from the ruling majority and nine from the opposition, gathered among a common topic and idea, with the agreement to prioritise general and not political interests. We often organise lectures on various environmental subjects, we meet regularly, so there is continuity in our work. The priorities of the Green Parliamentary Group are to affect the legislation, have the MPs who are its members learn more about Chapter 27 and jointly submit amendments”, concluded Radenkovic.

On the behalf of the Women’s Parliamentary Network, Gordana Comic said that the immediate cause for the establishment of the Network was the previous legislature’s decision to award 30% of the MP seats to the female population. On the occasion, Comic said that upon establishment women MPs from all the political parties came together and asked themselves what new things they can offer to the Assembly and the citizens of Serbia. “The innovation the Women’s Parliamentary Network introduced is dialogue, the core of which was the idea of innovation and our volunteer work. We put our heads together and thought whether and with whose help we can set up a body to tackle a variety of tasks. We, the members, put our differences aside and focus on combating violence against women, on women’s health and economic support for women”, stressed the MP.

MP Dubravka Filipovski spoke on the behalf of and the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) Serbia National Branch. Expressing her pleasure to be able to talk about the network, Filipovski stressed that GOPAC was the second informal network to be set up in the Serbian Parliament. “Within its two years of existence we have defined our goals, activities and tasks. Our goals are to strengthen the MPs’ capacities and the parliament’s institutional mechanisms necessary for an efficient fight against corruption, oversight of the Government and public finance, communication with the citizens aimed at raising awareness of the importance of supressing corruption in all spheres of society and strengthening cooperation with GOPAC national and regional branches”, concluded MP Filipovski.

The work, duties and structure of the Serbian Parliamentary Energy Policy Forum were presented by Dr Aleksandra Tomic. Tomic said that the Forum was set up on 29 June 2015 and its original 14 members have now grown to 21 from several political parties. “Following the example of the European Parliament and its informal parliamentary group focused on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, we believed it necessary to set up an informal parliamentary group in our Parliament to tackle energy and climate change topics. We have so far met four times and I find it important to say that, besides the Forum members, we have been joined by the NGO Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence. The Forum has a certain initiative, we have drafted a calendar of activities and have the support of GIZ, UNDP and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy”, said the MP.

Then the representatives of the civil society shared their initiatives and proposals - Centre of Modern Skills, Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, association Civic Initiatives, CeSID, National Coalition for Decentralisation, Local Democracy Centre from Subotica, Belgrade Open School, research association SeConS, association People’s Parliament from Leskovac, association E-Fortress from Nis, Association for Revision of Accessibility, organisation Link Plus, Forum 10 from Novi Pazar, Fund for the Development of the Home from Novi Sad and Organisation Educa Humana, which was followed by a discussion.

MPs Dusica Stojkovic, Milan Petric, Ivan Karic and Aida Corovic also took part in the discussion.

Dusica Stojkovic spoke about regional parliamentary cooperation and the role of the parliament in the European integration process. “As a member of the European Integration Committee I am pleased to inform you that in the current legislature regional cooperation ranks very high on the Committee’s priority list. We have organised a great many study visits and bilateral and multilateral meetings with a view to fostering ties and cooperation with the European integration/affairs committees in the Western Balkans. So far, we have cooperated with colleagues from Banja Luka and Zagreb. In the past year and a half, the European Integration Committee has been the parliamentary committee to have organised the most public hearings, we had joint sittings with the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality, and we cooperate with UNDP and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy”, MP Stojkovic informed the guests.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Group for Open Parliament and National Assembly Deputy Speaker, Prof. Dr Vladimir Marinkovic presided over the meeting.