Based on the previously adopted proposal that some Committee sittings be held outside of the National Assembly, the fourth sitting of the Committee on Petitions and Proposals was held in Nis on 4 November. The Committee considered the civic petitions and proposals submitted to it.

Dobrila Zdravkovic, City of Nis Ombudsperson, Nebojsa Hrnjicek, Anti-Corruption Agency representative, and Igor Jovanovic of the Nis City Assembly President’s Cabinet took part in the proceedings.

Committee Chairman Sasa Dujovic said that this was the first Committee sitting to be held outside of Belgrade which is to become a future practice. Holding such sittings was explained by the need to bring the deputies closer to the citizens so that they may hear their problems in direct communication. Dujovic said that “the Committee’s doors are open to all citizens”, adding that the Committee has established cooperation with independent regulatory bodies and some non-governmental organisations. Speaking of the proposals submitted, Dujovic said that of the about 1000 civic petitions received by the National Assembly last year, most related to bad privatisation, inefficiency of the courts and operation of state administration bodies. He announced that petitions and complaints commissions would soon be created on the local level, comprising councilmen with whom the Committee would establish coordination, and pointed out the need to focus more on educating the citizens so as to avoid their sending the same petitions to different addresses.

Nebojsa Hrnjicek of the Anti-Corruption Agency said that most of the complaints received from Nis related to corruption in the spheres of urbanism and spatial planning, as well as health care institutions and courts. He added that the first complaint at the work of civil servants as a new legal measure, had arrived from Nis.

Dobrila Zdravkovic, Nis Ombudsperson, stated that from the beginning of the year she had received 1603 direct civic petitions and 117 in writing, and that only a third of the petitions fell into her purview. The citizens mostly complained of the city Directorate for Property, and three citizens announced a constitutional appeal on the poor operation of the city administration.

Igor Jovanovic informed the Committee that in two years the Nis City Assembly President had received 5500 petitions and that the citizens of Nis had mostly complained of the Directorate for Property and Inspection Affairs, primarily the building inspection.

The sitting was held with UNDP support as part of the project “Strengthening the Accountability of the National Assembly Responsibilities”.

The sitting was chaired by Sasa Dujovic, Committee Chairman.