At the sitting held on 20 November, the members of the European Integrations Committee discussed the bills on Public Purchases and amending and modifying the Law on Travel Documents. The sitting was chaired by Laslo Varga, Committee Chairman.

The Bill on Public Purchases was elaborated by State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Slobodan Ilic who stressed that the provisions of the new bill are aligned with European Union standards. The Committee members endorsed the Bill.

In her elaboration of the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Travel Documents, the representative of the Ministry of Interior, Zorica Loncar Kasalica pointed out that it only extends the expiration date of existing passports for another year, i.e. until 31 December 2009.

Accepting the alteration of the Law on Travel Documents, the Committee members stated that the agreement on visa alleviation will only apply to people with new travel documents, that is biometric passports, and that it is in the citizens’ interest to exchange the old passports for new ones as soon as possible. Concerning it, they concluded that a more intense information campaign is needed, to emphasise the importance of the exchange of the old passports with new ones.

In the talk on the upcoming Committee activities, it was pointed out that bills aligning Serbia’s legal system with European Union law must have priority, and that the Committee should conduct a discussion in principle on them.

Concerning the information the Government submitted to the Committee on the level of the bills’ readiness, the Committee members particularly focused on the objections expressed in the European Commission’s report on Serbia’s progress in Eurointegrations. They proposed to organise public hearings on some of the more important laws from the so-called European priorities, so as to promote the standards they uphold.

The Committee recommended that the Working Group drafting the National Assembly’s new Rules of Procedure propose that the bills concerning Serbia’s accession to the European Union be discussed and adopted under accelerated procedure.