On the occasion, Speaker Stefanovic said:

“Your Excellency, esteemed representatives of the UN, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia is dedicated to the acceleration of the democratic process in Serbia through transparency of its work and through the oversight it performs of the executive. Therefore, National Assembly recognises individual and joint initiatives enabling the improvement of its credibility, transparency and responsibility.

Through the Project “Strengthening the Oversight Function and Transparency of the Parliament”, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia will be provided with the support for the establishment and strengthening of its oversight mechanisms, with particular emphasis on responsible state budget expenditure management and the improvement of Parliament’s outreach to citizens, especially at local level.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Besides the activities envisaged by the project itself the signatory parties will undertake additional efforts to capitalize on Swiss and global best practices. The prојect partners will, amongst other measures, jointly advocate for a positive image of the National Assembly in society.

Political life is usually deemed to be an ability of those who have it to implement their will which will affect lives of all citizens in the society they live in and economy they work in. Therefore, it’s the Parliament's responsibility to control how this power is used, whether it is for the benefit of the minority or the whole society.

I would like to stress that the Parliament will always work for the benefit of all Serbian citizens and not the political elite. I believe that this project will strengthen rule of law with the aim of compliance with international commitments and human rights instruments, and that the oversight function of parliamentary, independent and regulatory bodies will be strengthened as well.

The objective of the project is to develop the capacity of scrutiny teams; to improve the National Assembly’s outreach to citizens, especially at the local level, with emphasis on oversight mechanisms and to pilot successful outreach mechanism in local assemblies and to develop a system for real-time tracking of the state budget expenditure in the Assembly.

A clear oversight performed by the Assembly over the executive is an indicator of good governance. The oversight function of the Assembly, besides its legislative role, can ensure а balance of power and it can be used to assert the Assembly’s role in presenting the interests of people, thus providing high level of democracy in which the government is elected by the people so that it could rule on behalf of the people.

Thank you!”