Environmental Protection Committee Chairperson Milica Vojic Markovic, greeted the participants on the behalf of the Committee, stressing that today’s roundtable should send the message that environmental protection call for a much needed joint action of the executive and legislative power, the civil sector and individuals, and added that raising awareness among individuals and state institutions on the importance of the issue is one of the pre-requisites for said action.
Executive Director of the Young Explorers of Serbia Tanja Petrovic spoke of the public and individual impact on the adoption of environmental legislation. She reminded the participants that Serbia is a signatory of the Rio Declaration and Aarhus Convention which stipulate the existence of a legislative framework which defines the public participation in environmental protection; however, they are not fully implemented in Serbia.
Suzana Djordjevic, Director of the Ecotopia Fund, presented the conclusions of the Conference “EU – Serbia’s Challenges and Perspectives in 2013” on public participation, stating that there is no real cooperation between the public and civil sector, that laws are not implemented to an acceptable degree since there are no by-laws to ensure it, and that the re-establishment of the Environmental Protection Fund is something that should be considered.
Ivan Karic, Committee member and member of the informal Green Parliamentary Group, spoke of the existing cooperation mechanisms between the Group members and civil society organisations, pointing out that the communication should be more intensive.
Committee Chairperson Milica Vojic Markovic presented the Green Chair initiative – that NGO representatives be invited to each Committee sitting dedicated to issues in the purview of a certain organisation.
The ensuing debate among the MPs, representatives of the civil sector and expert public touched on the lack of sustained dialogue between the civil sector and the executive, the need to include local self-governments into the law adoption process and using the parliamentary questions mechanism more extensively when it comes to environmental issues.
MPs Gordana Comic, Dr Neven Cveticanin, Radoslav Milovanovic, Dejan Radenkovic and Jelena Travar Miljevic took part in the roundtable.
The roundtable was organised with the support of the Centre for Modern Skills, Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, Green Initiative and the Balkan Trust for Democracy.