Opening the seminar, National Assembly Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the Committeeon Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending Veroljub Arsic said that the seminar aimed to outline the role the National Assembly and the Committee play in the budget-making procedure. Arsic spoke to the participants of the seminar about the control of public procurement, drawing attention to the impact of the implementation of the Law on Public Procurement, proposed by the MPs and passed by the National Assembly in 2012.

The Head of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy Western Balkans Programme, which supports the operation of the regional Network of Parliamentary CommitteesonEconomy, Finance and European Integration of the Western Balkans, Emil Atanasovski emphasised the regional network’s role and the support it offers to the MPs in budgetary oversight.

Prof. Vladimir Vuckovic, member of the Serbian Fiscal Council, presented the processes of preparation and adoption of the budget in Serbia to the participants of the seminar. Vuckovic said that the Budget System Law is the umbrella law specifying the different elements of the budget process, stressing that said law introduced fiscal rules, the obligation to pass a fiscal strategy and set up the Fiscal Council as an advisory body.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker and deputy member of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending Vladimir Marinkovic talked about the role and duties of the Committeeon Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending in the adoption of the budget and spending of budgetary funds.

Former MP and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Radojko Obradovic shared his parliamentary experience as regards the MPs’ role in the preparation of the budget, the process of its adoption and budgetary oversight, while President of the State Audit Institution Radoslav Sretenovic discussed the National Assembly’s role in budgetary oversight, control of budgetary spending and the conduction of public audits.