The Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, today met a delegation of the Landtag, the parliament of the German Federal Land of Lower Saxony, headed by the Speaker, Jürgen Gansäuer.

Mr Markovic told Mr Gansäuer about activities and results achieved by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, both in this convocation and in the period after 2000, adding that, since democratic changes took place, the Assembly had passed more than 300 laws that are turning Serbia into a functioning state. In a friendly chat, the two heads of parliaments agreed that Germany’s experiences could provide substantial assistance to Serbia on her road to the European Union, as Germany can fully understand the difficulties faced by Serbia in European integration, and can therefore present these problems to other EU members in the right way. Mr Markovic added that the majority of laws adopted by the Serbian Assembly had been passed with a two-thirds majority, showing that it was possible to build consensus in Serbia between people of differing political views, religions and ethnicities; this, according to him, was a positive message sent by Serbia to the world.

The Lower Saxony parliamentary delegation is on a two-day visit to Serbia, where it is to attend the Seventh Conference on “Culture Clash? Cultural heritage between religion and ethnicity: A view into the future of South-Eastern Europe”, organised on 25 and 26 November 2005 in Golubac by the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Central Europe, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the German Bishops’ Conference, with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Belgrade Christian Cultural Centre.