The meeting focused on Serbia’s European integration and potentials for improving parliamentary cooperation between Serbia and Slovenia.
Slovenian National Assembly President Janko Veber briefed the National Assembly delegation on the functioning of the three branches of government in Slovenia, legislative procedure at the Slovenian National Assembly and its working bodies’ mode of operation, emphasising the important role parliaments play in the European integration process. Veber offered experiences which may prove useful in Serbia’s progress to the European Union.
Milos Aligrudic, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that a lot has been done on harmonising domestic and European Union legislation, adding that the rapid legislative process going on in Serbia should not be conducted at the detriment of the quality of the adopted laws. Aligrudic informed Veber about the recently passed Resolution on Legislative Policy by which the MPs attempted to clearly define the relationship between the National Assembly and the Government, to the National Assembly’s benefit. The Resolution, among other things, obliges the Government to give a detailed rationale for each and every bill it sends to the National Assembly for consideration, said Aligrudic, explaining why the Democratic Party of Serbia, which he belongs to, did not vote for the Resolution.
Aligrudic also pointed out the need to further parliamentary cooperation between Serbia and Slovenia especially as regards the exchange of experiences which should be intensified, opining that it would help improve both countries economic perspectives. He thanked Slovenia, on the behalf the majority of MPs, for the support it offers to Serbia’s Euro-integration process, excluding his Party’s position on the issue.
Jadranka Joksimovic, member of the European Integration Committee, spoke of the need to pass by-laws which would enable a more efficient implementation of the laws and emphasised the importance of cooperation between the two parliaments’ working bodies, particularly the committees charged with supervising the work of security services.
The meeting was also attended by MPs Karolj Cizik, Branislav Mitrovic, Natasa Vuckovic, Dubravka Filipovski, Irena Vujovic, Maja Gojkovic, Vera Paunovic, Vojislav Vujic and Dragomir Karic.