Davit Harutyunyan and Sinikka Hurskainen, co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly are in official visit to the Republic of Serbia from 29 November to 2 December 2010. On the first day of the official visit the co-rapporteurs visited the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and met, separately, with representatives of the parliamentary groups.

Head of the Deputy Group For European Serbia Nada Kolundzija, Head of the Socialist Party of Serbia – United Serbia Deputy Group Branko Ruzic and representatives of the Minorities Deputy Group Elvira Kovacs and G17 PLUS Deputy Group Zeljko Ivanji took part in the first meeting with the co-rapporteurs.

Greeting all present, Nada Kolundzija expressed her wish that the Republic of Serbia reach the post monitoring stage as soon as possible, stressing that Serbia was sparing no effort in the process. In the meeting, the deputies briefed the co-rapporteurs on the reform processes in the country as relates to meeting the duties and obligations Serbia took over by joining the Council of Europe. Republic of Serbia was said to have made progress in the field of reforms important for the road to European integration, but it should continue the reform particularly in the spheres of the judiciary and electoral system. Nada Kolundzija stressed that judiciary reform was a necessity and that the Republic of Serbia was open to further cooperation with the PACE in the implementation of the reform.

In the continuation, the deputies discussed the electoral system in Serbia and the issue of the deputies’ blank resignations with the co-rapporteurs. Nada Kolundzija deemed that a reform of the electoral system in Serbia should be completed in the first half of 2011.

The deputies opined that during its current mandate the Government had the legislative initiative, in which all the deputies took part, both in the process of drafting laws and passing said laws.

In the meeting with the representatives of the Serbian Radical Party, Serbian Progressive Party and Liberal Democratic Party Deputy Groups, the PACE co-rapporteurs showed interest in the deputy groups’ views on the duties and activities that need to be completed before the conclusion of the Council of Europe’s monitoring mission in Serbia.

The representatives of the abovementioned parliamentary groups pointed out that the work of the opposition parliamentary groups in the National Assembly is greatly impeded. They substantiated their view by pointing out that the live broadcast of the sessions was brought into question as the debates on important laws are delayed until late in the evening and that the new Rules of Procedure are restrictive as they do not allow enough time to air views on some important legal acts. In addition, the institute of parliamentary questions is formalised since the Government representatives either do not answer them or give generalised answers.

Speaking of the flaws of parliamentary life, they stated that the Government submits a great number of bills under urgent procedure so that the deputies lack the time to prepare, and often, unrelated items on the agenda are joined in debate. They also pointed out the double standards in the treatment of the deputies’ blank resignations.

They opined that the work of opposition parliamentary groups was made meaningless as the Decision amending the number of committee members has secured the ruling coalition a majority in almost every committee so that the opposition deputies are outvoted even though the National Assembly intends to transfer the work done in the plenary sessions onto the committees. The National Assembly’s agenda containing numerous items, even more than 30, is proposed almost exclusively by the Government, and the deputies’ initiatives are rejected.

The National Assembly has adopted a large number of laws even though noone cares about their quality, stated the deputies pointing out that the laws on regulatory bodies, which practically do not function, are especially meaningless.

Dragan Todorovic, Head of the Serbian Radical Party Deputy Group, Jorgovanka Tabakovic, Deputy Head of the Forward Serbia Deputy Group and Kenan Hajdarevic, representative of the Liberal Democratic Party took part in the meeting.