Welcome to the National Assembly House, the home of all Serbian citizens, where the Committee on Defense and Security among others, which happens to be the organiser of the Conference along with the OSCE, works on protecting certain fundamental human rights. The topic gathering us here “Parliamentary control of security services in the context of data confidentiality systems” which you will, I am sure, debate in a very comprehensive and competent manner in these two days, will undoubtedly help promote the protection of human rights.

As the Chairman of the NARS Committee on Defense and Security informed me, the Third Regional Conference of Parliamentary Bodies for oversight of intelligence security services, in addition to representatives of the host, includes two representatives or the relevant parliamentary committees of: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro and Romania, as well as guests from Hungary. We have the pleasure of hosting the experts of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), as well as representatives of the intelligence security sector and other independent state bodies. Once again, I wish you a most heartfelt welcome.

The purview of the Committee on Defense and Security, as a permanent body of the National Assembly, is regulated by Article 46 of the Rules of Procedure which shall be in force until the new assembly convocation is constituted when the committee shall be transformed into two - Defense and Internal Affairs Committee and Security Services Control Committee which will contribute to a more efficient and better control of the security services the Committee already controls primarily by reviewing their activity reports, as well as thanks to the fact that the ministers of relevant ministries are supposed to submit quarterly activity reports to the Committee.

Of course, in addition to parliamentary control, the work of the security services is also controlled by, even in the part relating to the topic of this gathering, independent authorities such as the Ombudsman and Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection. As these are all new institutions, any and all exchange of experiences, views and practices would be beneficial to everyone.

There is no doubt that the topic of the Conference is very sensitive, that there are few social topics where the line between the protection and violation of both public and personal interests is so thin. There are surely many seemingly technical issues relating to the topic where you will have the opportunity to share experiences and improve the work of the bodies you represent.

Confident that the cooperation, as always in life, will provide all the participants with knowledge and valuable contacts, on the behalf of the NARS MPs I wish you successful work.