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Activities

7 July 2026 Committee Chairperson and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Elvira Kovacs and Head of the Belgian Delegation Katrijn van Riet

7 July 2026 Committee Chairperson and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Elvira Kovacs and Head of the Belgian Delegation Katrijn van Riet

Tuesday, 7 July 2026

European Integration Committee Members Meet with Belgian Federal Parliament Delegation

The members of the European Integration Committee met today with a delegation from the Federal Parliament of Belgium, to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two countries and Serbia's European integration process.

Committee Chairperson and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Elvira Kovacs, pointed out that Serbia has been in the membership negotiations phase for too long, since 2012, and the current biggest challenge for our country is that it has not opened a new negotiating cluster for a very long time. She added that the National Assembly and the Government are doing everything they can to continue this process. The National Assembly adopted 23 laws from the European agenda in the first half of this year, and the bulk of the work is on the European Integration Committee, which assesses the compliance of domestic legislation with EU legislation, Kovacs said.

The European Integration Committee Chairperson emphasised the importance of the Conference of Parliament Speakers of EU Candidate Countries, which is taking place in Belgrade today and tomorrow, and added that Serbia sincerely hopes for progress in the European integration process.

Katrijn van Riet, head of the Belgian delegation, stressed that Serbia and Belgium maintain excellent bilateral relations and that parliamentary diplomacy is the key framework for mutual understanding. Europe is facing security challenges, technological changes, economic challenges, energy transition, all of which require closer cooperation with partners, van Riet added. She said that her country supports cooperation with the Western Balkan countries, and that bilateral economic relations between Serbia and Belgium have never been better, as well as the cooperation between defence institutions, especially at a time when security issues are becoming more complex.

The meeting with the Belgian colleagues, which was also attended by Committee members Ana Jakovljevic, Branislav Josifovic and Sanja Dzajic, also included discussions about democratic processes in society, freedom of the media, improving electoral legislation in line with ODIHR recommendations, alignment with EU foreign policy, cooperation with the civil sector, polarisation in society, and more. The attending assessed, while expressing different opinions and positions, that Serbia's goal is full membership in the EU, and that Serbia, as the largest country in the Western Balkans, does not deserve to stand still for five years, and therefore an open dialogue and finding a common minimum are necessary in order to accelerate the European integration process.

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Activities

Wednesday, 8 July 2026

19th Sitting of the of the Committee on Labour, Social Issues, Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction

Wednesday, 8 July 2026

26th Sitting of the Committee on Education, Science, Technological Development and the Information Society

Wednesday, 8 July 2026

29th Sitting of the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee

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wednesday, 8 july

  • 9.00 - sitting of the Committee on Education, Science, Technological Development and the Information Society (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, hall 3)

  • 9.30 - meeting of highest parliamentary officials of EU candidate countries (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square)

  • 9.30 - sitting of the Committee on Labour, Social Issues, Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, hall 4)

  • 9.30 - sitting of the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Small Hall)

  • after the meeting – press conference of the parliamentary officials of EU candidate countries (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Central Hall)

  • 10.00 - continuation of the Eighth Extraordinary Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 14th Legislature (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square)

  • 10.30 - sitting of the Environmental Protection Committee (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, hall 4)

  • 11.00 - sitting of the Committee on Labour, Social Issues, Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, hall 3)

  • 11.30 - sitting of the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Issues (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, hall 4)

  • 12.30 - sitting of the of the Committee on the Judiciary, Public Administration and Local Self-Government (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, hall 4)

Full event calendar