At the sitting held on 24 December, the Committee on Kosovo and Metohia conducted a discussion in principle on the Bill on the Budget of the Republic of Serbia for 2009, with its accompanying proposals of decisions granting consent to financial plans for 2009 of the Republic Fund for Pension and Disability Insurance of Employees, the Republic Health Insurance Agency and the National Employment Service, submitted by the Government.

The Committee accepted the Bill in principle.

The sitting was attended by the Minister for Kosovo-Metohija, Goran Bogdanovic and representatives of the Ministry of Finance. Minister Bogdanovic said that the 2009 Budget Bill allocates 36% of means less than this year for Kosovo-Metohija and 100 million dinars of the envisaged means have been allocated for social welfare.

In the discussion, the deputies objected to the restrictiveness of the means intended for Kosovo-Metohija and pointed out the irregularities and abuses in their use, as well as the need to spread the budgetary means intended for Kosovo evenly.

At the sitting, the Committee repeated its previous ruling to submit an initiative to pass a law on defining the working status of employees in Kosovo-Metohija, if it is in line with constitutional and legal provisions. The Committee also decided to submit a request to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Ministry of Finance to send a work inspection, financial police and budgetary inspection to all Kosovo state institutions to review the employment of staff and its salaries,

as well as financial transactions from 2001 onwards.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Deputy Chairman, Dejan Radenkovic.