Under the auspices of the interparliamentary cooperation of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Hungarian National Assembly organised the annual meeting of the Secretaries General of the EU Parliaments in Budapest. In addition to the delegations of the secretaries general of national parliaments and the European Parliament, the meeting was also attended by parliamentary delegations of all EU candidate countries as observers.

In his address on the topic "Cooperation of EU Parliaments with the parliaments of candidate countries", Srdjan Smiljanic emphasised that, for all those coming from candidate countries, it is very important to participate in all meetings that provide an opportunity to exchange experiences with colleagues from the EU as well as from other candidate countries, as EU accession is a strategic commitment for everyone.

During his presentation, he informed the attendees about various cooperation mechanisms, such as parliamentary bilateral cooperation, parliamentary conferences, twinning programs, regional and EU parliamentary initiatives, as well as bilateral political and technical agreements.

He said that the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia has developed bilateral cooperation with the parliaments of EU member states, as well as candidate countries. He emphasised that cooperation includes both the political and administrative levels, and that there have been many visits by parliamentary delegations of EU member states during the past year numerous, as well as visits of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to the parliaments of Belgium and Slovenia.

In his address, the Secretary General also pointed out the importance of the IPEX platform, which the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia uses for electronic, interparliamentary exchange of information, and which is of great importance for its institutional work, especially in the context of the negotiation process for EU membership.

Finally, Smiljanic stressed that strong interparliamentary ties not only strengthen the political dialogue of candidate countries with the EU member states, but also contribute to the stability and integration of the entire European continent. Cooperation between the parliaments of candidate countries and member states enables faster and more flexible alignment with EU legal and political standards, thus encouraging the construction of a more stable and integrated region.