The Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Peter Burkhard said the Mission had cooperated really well with the National Assembly on numerous projects and offered expert assistance to the Action Group’s efforts to draft specific legislative solutions for the reform of the political system in Serbia.

The Chairman of the Action Group Zoran Babic informed the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia about the basic operating principles of the Action Group, stressing that all the political elements in the Parliament, their power and popular support notwithstanding, are equal in these efforts meaning that each parliamentary party has a representative in the Action Group. He said that the idea is to hear out the opinions on the political system reform of all the parties in and outside of the Parliament, scientific and expert public, Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Autonomous Province, national minority councils, Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, the non-governmental and civil sector, as well as the representatives of the international community, which is why the Action Group issued a public appeal to all interested parties to take part in the efforts.

“We have not undertaken this task with an already prepared solution, rather we have embarked on it in order to hear out all the interested parties, so that the political system could be changed with the highest degree of consensus. Considering that the Constitution is the most interesting topic, I am sure our efforts will result in amendments and modifications to the Constitution with the broadest possible consensus”, said Babic.

He added that after the hearings, all the proposals will be considered to set up priorities based on the how often some topics crop up. A smaller group will be set up within the Action Group to tackle these priorities, and will include as one of its members a representative of the biggest national minority and a representative of the opposition. He thanked the OSCE Mission to Serbia for the offer to help the political system reform along with its expert assistance and asked its representatives to attend the Action Group’s special hearings and take active part by delegating specific topics for reform.

Babic also informed Mission Head Peter Burkhard on the topics his Parliamentary Group will be delegating, which are still under debate.

The Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Peter Burkhard was very interested in the final outcome of the Action Group’s work on the reform the political system, the proposals to amend the parts of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia addressing the judiciary and national minorities, and other areas where the OSCE Mission to Serbia could offer its support.

In addition to the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the meeting was also attended by the Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Michael Uyehara.