The Conference was opened by the National Assembly Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic Dejanovic who emphasised the importance of establishing standards of conduct for the popular representatives which is an important social and civilisational step forward. On the occasion, Djukic Dejanovic reminded all present of the importance of building trust between the citizens and their representatives which can be achieved through parliamentary transparency and expressed her belief that the conference would, through experiences, proposals and suggestions, result in guidelines aimed at meeting our citizens’ expectations.

Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Dimitrios Kypreos applauded the initiative to organise the conference and congratulated the National Assembly on all the steps it undertook to ensure transparency of public institutions, as well as the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Agency. In addition, Kypreos stressed that the establishment of the Working Group for the Drafting of Code of Conduct was very important adding that the OSCE Mission would continue to support the National Assembly‘s initiative.

The two-day conference on Standards of Ethics/Conduct for Parliamentarians gathered MPs and established experts from Serbia, European Union countries and countries in the region. They spoke of the concept of ethical standards of conduct of the MPs, defending the parliament’s dignity, importance of working for the public and not personal interest, degree of accountability to the citizens, true values such as dignity and trust and rules stemming from these values, the issue of MP suspension, establishing the culture of dialogue, MPs’ integrity, prevention of conflict of interest and anti-corruption strategy.

On the first day of the conference, the assembly was addressed by the Chairman of the Administrative Committee Nenad Konstantinovic who stressed the importance of working on strengthening the parliament and cooperation with the media, and then spoke of the parliament’s representative, legislative and control role, stating that the Serbian parliament, when it comes to its legislative function, has met its obligations in the previous period by passing eight hundred laws, which was recognised by the European Commission, and as a result Serbia received positive marks and was recommendation for candidate status at the European Union.

The participants were also greeted by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gordana Comic who emphasised the importance of passing a parliamentary code of conduct, stressing that the first step should be its public acceptance. She went on to highlight the importance of public dialogue between the parliamentarians, citizens and expert public, and then expressed her displeasure at the constraints on the MPs’ public appearances “We have to listen, hear and respect and I believe that to be the beginning of all ethics”, concluded Comic.

In the ensuing discussion, all the participants had the opportunity to ask questions and air their views on the adoption of a code of conduct for the MPs.

On the second day of the conference the assembly was also addressed by the Chairman of the Legislative Committee Vlatko Ratkovic who first thanked the OSCE Mission to Serbia and USAID for their support and cooperation stressing that ethics is part and parcel of politics. Ratkovic was pleased at Serbia’s being among the first to broach the issue and recognise the importance of institutionalising the rules of conduct of the MPs. He also said that Serbia has launched and is successfully implementing a reaffirmation of the parliament as the central institution in society. The codes exist in every segment of society and parliamentarians should adopt the act, and all constructive criticism from the civil society and expert public is welcome, concluded Ratkovic.

The panelists’ addresses were followed by a discussion where the participants exchanged opinions on the advantages and disadvantages relating to the topics debated at the two-day conference.