At its sixth sitting, held on 25 December, the Committee on Defense and Security considered the information on the current affairs and state of the Republic of Serbia defense system. The sitting was scheduled by the Committee Chairman, Dragan Todorovic due to the public address of the Serbian Army Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Zdravko Ponos and the clash between the Minister of Defense, Dragan Sutanovac and Chief of Staff Ponos, who had been invited to attend the sitting.

A letter by the Minister of Defense was read at the sitting, informing the Committee members that he is unable to attend the Committee sitting and expressing his readiness to outline the state of the defense system on the first available occasion.

In the discussion, Chief of Staff Ponos was criticised because of his public statement, which was deemed as a violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and the provisions of the Law on the Serbian Military, but the Committee also expressed an amount of agreement with the objections Ponos had with the Ministry of Defense. Certain Committee members agreed with the Chief of General Staff, that passing a national security and defense strategy is being delayed, but at the same time warned that his public appearance jeopardizes civil control over the Serbian Army.

Participating in the discussion, Chief of General Staff Zdravko Ponos stated that the security of the country is not jeopardized, that the Serbian Army is functional and, as he said, he did not violate either the Constitution or the Law.

Following the discussion, it was ruled that the Committee on Defense and Security believes the current events in the relations between the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Army can represent a serious threat to the stability of the Republic of Serbia defense system and bring the civil control over the Serbian Army into question. Due to it, the Committee requests that the National Assembly Speaker, Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic ask the Government to inform the National Assembly on the state of the preparations for the defense of the country, in line with the Government’s legal duty under article 86 paragraph 4 of the Defense Law, as soon as possible.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Dragan Todorovic.