A delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia made a two-day visit to Brussels, on 6 and 7 December. The delegation comprising Marko Djurisic, Nada Kolundzija, Suzana Grubjesic, Natasa Vuckovic, Vesna Marjanovic, Jelena Trivan, Edip Serifov, Nenad Prokic, Zoran Ostojic, Tamas Tot and Smiljana Milisavljevic took part in a study visit to the seat of the NATO Alliance on 6 December. The study visit aimed to brief the deputies on the new NATO strategic concept adopted at the recent Alliance Summit in Lisbon. The Serbian deputies met with the NATO Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, ambassadors of the USA, Greece, Germany, Czech Republic and Croatia, and the meetings dealt with Serbia’s participation in the programmes of the Partnership for Peace and the new global security challenges affecting all the countries such as terrorism, illegal trafficking in firearms, energy security and climatic change. At the NATO Parliamentary Assembly the deputies discussed the mechanisms for the improvement of civil control over the military and the deputies’ role in the control over the Government in the sphere of defense and security, based on the experiences of other parliamentary democracies.

On the second day of the visit, at the European Parliament, the Serbian deputies met with their European colleagues – members of the “Friends of Serbia” group, deputies Kukan, Bostinaru, Thaler, Koppa and Kacin. In the meeting, the officials emphasised the need to quickly improve cooperation between the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and European Parliament. The deputies considered the priorities in Serbia’s upcoming European integration process. The European parliamentarians were particularly interested in the issue of the legal framework for restitution, judiciary reform and improvement of the operation of independent institutions, as well as the abolition of the blank resignation practice i.e. strengthening the deputies’ independence. The Serbian deputies stressed that Serbia’s priority was to prepare the answers to the European Commission’s Questionnaire, as well as make decisive and serious efforts on improving the situation in the areas underlined in the European Commission’s Annual Progress Report on Serbia. In addition, they stressed that the Serbian Assembly should work continuously on improving the legislative procedure, the mechanisms for a more efficient monitoring of the Government’s work and overall modernisation of the parliament.

Their joint conclusion was that the Serbian Parliament plays an important role and that many more initiatives should be launched to speed up Serbia’s European integration process.