Speaker Stefanovic opened the meeting by presenting the results achieved by the Parliament in the last 18 months, with a special focus on last year’s visit by PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon which, he stressed, he believed to be a big day for the Serbian Parliament and strong recognition of the progress it had achieved. Stefanovic also highlighted the European Commission’s report on Serbia and the National Assembly, the most positive to date. It deemed the Parliament the most transparent of Serbia’s institutions, a transparency secured, first and foremost, via the direct internet broadcast of the Parliament’s work in its entirety.

Stefanovic also said that the Parliament had passed several important conventions, among them the convention that makes sure sexual crimes against minors have no statute of limitation, and the Istanbul Convention which prevents criminal offenses against women.

Speaking of the status of women, Stefanovic said that a lot has been done to politically activate women. 30% of the MPs are women, the goal being to raise that number, said Stefanovic. The electoral list of the Serbian Progressive Party, which I am the Vice-President of, for councillors of the Belgrade City Assembly, 43% of which is made up of women, attests to it, stressed Stefanovic. Stefanovic also mentions the establishment of the Women’s Parliamentary Network as a significant step toward the empowerment of women. The Parliament also has many representatives of national minorities, and the upcoming elections on 16 March are expected to have four, maybe five minority lists, said Stefanovic reminding that the election census for minorities is 0.4% which is easily achievable.

Stefanovic expects between 20 and 25 new laws to be passed in the months to come, which would improve the economic situation in the country and secure more foreign investments into Serbia. We will make our laws a little more liberal and make the investors feel at home. More liberal laws should stimulate self-employment and opening of small and medium-sized enterprises which we believe to be the cornerstone of Serbia’s industrial and economic development, says Stefanovic.

PACE Committee member Igor Ivanovski congratulated Dr Nebojsa Stefanovic on the considerable progress achieved during his term of office as Parliament Speaker, while ad hoc Committee member Pedro Agramunt asked Stefanovic, on the behalf of the delegation, why the election was called. He also noted that out of the 10 previous elections, seven had been early ones. Stefanovic said that the elections were called because it was felt that the reform should be speedier and more through and the coming elections offer the chance to secure a stable majority. This is extremely important, said Stefanovic, because some less than popular laws are waiting to be passed. He stressed that there was no consensus on the bills on bankruptcy and labour, which, Stefanovic says are the basis for a successful reform.

Stefanovic also stressed that he believes that this would be one of the cleanest election campaigns because the National Regulatory Body had banned the use of image in a negative context.

Answering how the EU accession topic has been incorporated into the election campaign, Stefanovic said that so far, only one party - the Democratic Party of Serbia, did not endorse Euro-integration, and that the citizens did understand that joining the Union was desirable for the raising of the standards which allow us to move forward. He believes Serbia’s negotiating team to be well prepared and that Serbia could become a full member by 2020.

The meeting also touched on the topic of Kosovo to which Stefanovic stressed that Serbia stands firm by its decision not to recognise the self-declared independence of Kosovo and hopes the negotiations would be continued.