THE FOLLOWING IS THE SPEECH OF THE SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA IN ITS ENTIRETY:

Respected colleagues,

Dear students and professors,

Welcome to the National Assembly. I am truly glad that you have shown interest in visiting our and your legislative house and getting acquainted not only with its work, but also with our building, because it is a genuine cultural monument and witness to many of the most important moments in our history.

I am glad that the University of Novi Pazar and you as its most important part are today in Belgrade, and especially in the National Assembly, because this House is open to all of our citizens, particularly you, future lawyers, who would be implementing the laws being promulgated here. I am glad to be talking to you as I have with your colleagues from a number of universities who have already had study visits to the Assembly. I found those conversations very useful, as I hope did your peers and colleagues as well.

As for me, who has been in politics and public office for a long time, I know very well that I can do a good job only if I am in constant contact with the citizens, especially with you young people, because the best ideas come from you, as do the most justified criticisms. So do not let me down now that you are here in the Assembly, I want you to feel at home, in a house that belongs to you, which it is, and openly ask or comment on everything that interests you about our work. I will not examine or award you grades, democracy rules here.

You know that the National Assembly is now in a transitional period, there are no sessions or committee meetings, and after the parliamentary elections on Sunday a new legislature will be constituted. I hope that we will soon have the Assembly in full mandate, once the terms of office of the new MPs are verified, and that they will immediately start to do their duties, first by electing a new Government and passing new laws.

As you know, the previous parliamentary legislature operated in slightly unusual conditions due to the coronavirus pandemic, there were limitations in our work, such as keeping physical distance, and in regular parliamentary life in general. But I think we were very efficient, we passed a whole series of laws, some of them especially important for our fight against the pandemic, as well as other laws important for our country, such as laws in the field of energy and ecology. Of course, we also passed the budget as one of the most important laws on time and through a good discussion, enabling the normal functioning of the state and all of its institutions.

The previous parliament had a relatively short mandate, but will be remembered for carrying out, from beginning to end, a very detailed and complex procedure of Constitutional amendment, done for the first time in the 16 years since the Constitution was adopted. As future lawyers, you will certainly be interested in the details of that decision, because the Constitution was amended in the part that concerns the election of judges and prosecutors. This is a big change in one of the most important parts of the state structure, and the whole procedure was carried out with the maximum engagement of all those affected by this change.

We organized a series of public hearings in the Assembly, where our MPs talked with representatives of the judiciary and the bar, international experts, our university law professors, as well as with non-governmental organizations that deal with these issues. So, incorporating their suggestions, we came to a solution that received the highest marks at the international level - from the Venice Commission, which is the highest authority at the European level for assessing important legal decisions. Finally, as the procedure requires, the citizens voted on the changes to the Constitution in a referendum on 16 January, which was the final confirmation of the change to the Constitution.

I mention the change to the Constitution because it is something not done very often, we have practically not had such experiences with the existing Constitution, but consistently following procedure and engaging with the widest circle of all interested parties, we came to the best solutions and reached the highest democratic standards. According to the new solutions, which have become an integral part of the Constitution, the judiciary is completely separated from the legislative and executive, and the election of judges and prosecutors is now completely depoliticized and not subject to the influence of the other two branches of government. Serbia thus gained a completely independent judiciary, our judges and prosecutors their independence, and the citizens the availability of justice and its objectivity much more than before.

Since we are now at the end of the election campaign, I will not tell you much about politics, so that you do not think that this is a political rally, but I will urge you to vote on Sunday, for those you think can best represent you here in parliament, in the government and as president. Voting, as you know, is not obligatory, but as students, and especially as law students, you should feel it as your duty, as well as an opportunity to influence what country you will live in in the coming years. Elections are a day when democracy is in the hands of each of us and you should not miss this opportunity to make a decision yourselves.

Thank you once again for visiting the National Assembly, for being interested in our work, and I wish you to come here one day as MPs and to represent your fellow citizens. There is no greater honour or greater duty than that, I am speaking from experience, as someone who has been elected to this House in every election in the last 30 years.

Thank you!