Committee Chairman Dr Ugljesa Mrdic greeted the participants of the public hearing and thanked them all for their efforts, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Marina Ragus, the members of the Committee on the Judiciary, Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the attending MPs, Minister of Justice Nenad Vujic and his assistants Jovan Cosic and Branislav Stojanovic, MP Miroslav Petrasinovic, as well as Slobodan Velisavljevic, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Natasa Krivokapic, Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, members of the High Judicial Council, the President and members of the High Prosecutorial Council, representatives of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, the OSCE Mission to Serbia, representatives of the embassies of Norway, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic, members of the Republic Electoral Commission, representatives of the Ministry of Justice, representatives of judicial bodies and organisations, the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, representatives of the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy and Transparency of Serbia, as well as representatives of other bodies and civil society organisations, professional and interested public and all who responded to the call.

Dr Ugljesa Mrdic reminded the participants of the reasons behind the public hearings and the decision the Committee made at the sitting, held on 29 July 2026, to hold public hearings on these topics. He stressed the importance of public hearings for the active involvement of the professional and interested public in the process of legislative drafting.

Mrdic reminded the attending that the previous three public hearings on the topic were held on 18 August in Kragujevac, 19 August in Nis, and 20 August in Novi Sad, emphasising that today's, the Eighth Public Hearing, completes the process the goal of which was to enable the widest possible range of relevant participants to express their views.

Minister of Justice Nenad Vujic presented the Bill on the Judicial Academy, emphasising that the proposed text incorporates the recommendations of the Venice Commission. He stressed that the Bill represents one of the key steps in judicial reform and fulfilling the obligations from the Action Plan for Chapter 23 in the negotiations with the European Union. According to him, the Bill brings changes in the Academy’s governing bodies with the goal of ensuring greater independence and objectivity in the work of the Judicial Academy and improving the system of selection and professional training of future judges and prosecutors. He particularly emphasised that the reformed composition of the Board of Directors and the Programme Council, aims to make the Judicial Academy a unique and objective system for entering the Serbian judiciary and to contribute to the expertise, integrity and independence of future judges and prosecutors. He also stressed that the Academy will train both judges and judicial and prosecutorial assistants, as well as judicial and prosecutorial administration.

MP Miroslav Petrasinovic presented the Draft Law amending and modifying the Law on Prevention of Corruption, stressing that the amendments are aimed, among other things, at improving electoral conditions and implementing ODIHR recommendations. He added that the Draft Law also includes the remaining 13 GRECO recommendations and includes a wider number of people who are now defined as public officials.

Speaking of specific solutions, Petrasinovic pointed out that the proposed amendments introduce stricter rules regarding the incompatibility of public office, more clearly separate the exercise of public office from party activity on social networks. The amendments improve the transparency of the work of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and additionally regulate the financing of election campaigns, the activities of third parties in the campaign, the control of political party financing and donations. He also specifically emphasised that the proposed Draft also tightens the penalty provisions for failure to comply with the prescribed rules, especially in cases of violation of the provisions of Article 50, which relate to the performance of public functions after the start of the election campaign.

Petrasinovic concluded that the proposed changes represent a continuation of activities initiated several months ago to improve and reform electoral legislation, with the aim of further advancing and improving the quality of the electoral process, in accordance with the recommendations of the ODIHR and GRECO.

In the discussion that followed, the participants exchanged opinions on the proposed legislation, shared their observations, views and suggestions.

The public hearing was attended by Committee members Risto Kostov, Ana Krstic and Boris Bajic, as well as MPs who are not members of the Committee: Dragana Arsic, Marko Atlagic, Tatjana Petrovic Stojkovic, Slobodan Petrovic, Vesna Savovic Petkovic, Nada Macura, Tatjana Nikolic, Lepomir Ivkovic, Dragan Markovic, Dubravka Filipovski and Nenad Abramovic.