At the sitting held on 2 February, the Finance Committee discussed the Committee’s Work Plan Proposal for 2009 and the Information on the Committee’s conclusions and their implementation.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Zoran Krasic.

In the discussion on the first item on the agenda, the Committee Chairman informed the Committee members on the materials within the Committee’s jurisdiction which have not been discussed yet. Above all, these are various reports by the National Bank of Serbia, the Securities Commission and other organs on their operations in 2007, and financial plans for 2009. Also, these contain bills on the confirmation of various agreements, as well as bills from the field of finance.

The Committee members unanimously decided that the Committee discuss the accrued materials according to topic at the upcoming sittings. Also, the Committee unanimously decided to re-send the letters to the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the National Bank requesting information on the measures implemented to alleviate the effects of the financial crisis on Serbia, as well as a request that the Committee members be invited to all meetings where decisions on the country’s monetary policy are passed. The Committee unanimously passed the Conclusion that the Ministry of Finance and NBS submit quaterly reports to the Committee on the implementation of the budget, the programs of macroeconomic measures, monetary policy and dinar exchange rate policy. The Committee members agreed that the NBS Governor’s letter on the election of NBS Council President be forwarded to all deputy groups, so that they may make their nominations.

In the discussion on the second item on the agenda, the Committee members concluded that some of the Committee’s conclusions received no feedback from certain relevant authorities.

At the fourth sitting, held on 5 September, the Committee passed the Conclusion obligating Prof. Dr Nenad Vunjak to submit proof of resignation to the post of deputy at the Assembly of AP Vojvodina, due to the incompatibility of simultaneously serving as deputy in the Assembly of AP Vojvodina and member of the Council of the National Bank of Serbia. Considering that the resignation has not yet been submitted, the Committee concluded to send a letter containing the same request to both Prof. Dr Vunjak and the relevant NBS service.

Also, the Committee concluded to repeat the memo to the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the National Bank to submit information on the measures being implemented to alleviate the effects of the world economic crisis on Serbia.

The Committee members decided to form a Working group at the next sitting which will analyse the political parties’ financial reports for 2007. The Working group will be comprised of one Committee member from each deputy group, as well as expert service and State Audit Institution representatives.

The Committee members decided to hold the next two sittings on 11 and 12 February 2009.