On 26 November, at 4 pm., in line with article 200 paragraph 1 of the National Assembly Rules of Procedure, the deputies called a recess in the debate on the agenda for the Second Sitting of the Second Regular Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in 2009, and posed various questions to the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

This part of the sitting was attended by the Minister of Human and Minority Rights Svetozar Ciplic, Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic, Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic, Minister of Telecommunication and Information Society Jasna Matic, Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Sasa Dragin.

Deputy Vladan Batic asked three questions. The first one was for Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and Minister of Energy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic regarding the amount of money the citizens should receive under their realised right to free shares. The question why a tender was called for only one other and not more landline telephony operators in Serbia, was addressed to the Minister of Telecommunication and Information Society Jasna Matic. The third question pertained to the losses of NIS and the related value of its free shares.

Minister Jasna Matic answered the question concerning the tender for a landline telephony operator stressing that she agreed with the opinion that the liberalisation process of the landline telephony is overdue. She added that the Government’s decision to offer one and not more licenses for landline telephony stems from the economic crisis and global decline in the use of landline telephones.

Deputy Zlata Djeric asked Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic whether the Government would change the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia before the end of its term, so as to harmonise it with the needs of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, as the AP Vojvodina Assembly Speaker Sandor Egeresi had said. The second question was addressed to the Minister of Energy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic, asking that he obtain an answer from the Agency for Economic Registers regarding the registration of co-operative capital at the Agricultural Co-operative of Stapar. The third question was addressed to the Minister of Health Tomica Milosavljevic, and it pertained to companies supplying cytostatics to five children’s oncology departments in Serbia.

Deputy Slobodan Samardzic asked the Minister of Human and Minority Rights Svetozar Ciplic and the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic how and why the Government had allowed the drafting of the text of the AP Vojvodina Statute first, and then itself drafted the law on its jurisdiction harmonising it with the younger legal document and how it was possible that in addition to the Bill on Determining the Jurisdiction of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina the Fourth Sitting of the Second Regular Session did not contain bills on the financing and property of AP Vojvodina. Answering the question, the Minister of Human and Minority Rights Svetozar Ciplic pointed out that the Assembly of AP Vojvodina had fulfilled its constitutional duty by passing the Statute, as had the Government as the authorised submitter of the law on the transfer of jurisdiction according to the Constitution, adding that the National Assembly would vote, just as it conducted the debate, first on the bill, and then on the Decision Proposal on the Confirmation of the Statute. To the deputy’s additional question requesting clarification of the answer, the Minister added that the constitutional procedure for the adoption of these documents would be observed, and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia would estimate their constitutionality, if an initiative for such estimation were submitted.

Deputy Dragan Todorovic had a question for the whole Government and the National Assembly Speaker regarding the request to revise the privatisation of the value of the capital of Sugar Refinery “Jedinstvo” Kovacica. He asked which consulting firm estimated the value of the sugar refinery, why a firm worth 20 million EUR had been sold for 3 EUR and what happened to the small shareholders’ capital. The deputy requested that the National Assembly Speaker send a letter to the Serbian Orthodox Church to establish the truth about the letter sent the SOC had sent to the National Assembly.

Deputy Cedomir Jovanovic asked the Minister of Telecommunication and Information Society Jasna Matic about the partial takeover of the capital of “Informatika” company by “Srbijagas” company. Minister Matic answered that the question lies within the purview of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Energy adding that the Prime Minister had submitted a written answer to the National Assembly Deputy Speaker Judita Popovic at the previous sitting addressing deputies’ questions. Commenting on the answer deputy Jovanovic pointed out that the written answer submitted by the Prime Minister to Deputy Speaker Popovic was incomplete and that Minister Petar Skundric was asked to elaborate on it, which he had not done so far.

Deputy Aleksandra Jankovic had a question for Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic. She asked what script and language were in official use in Serbia. The second question was addressed to the Minister of Health Tomica Milosavljevic, asking why patients from Pancevo and Vrbas cannot get referrals for treatment in Belgrade. The question if Serbia security forces have an estimate of the security risks the adoption of the Statute posed for Serbia, if they had information on the influence of the Institute for South-Eastern Europe based in Munich, namely its influence on the creation of the Vojvodina Statute, she addressed to the Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac.

Deputy Jorgovanka Tabakovic asked who in the Government was in charge of collecting the expenses from the lease of the National Assembly House, considering that the National Assembly had no property at its disposal, and how much income this had generated last year. She also asked whether the Government was considering legally defining the deadline for keeping electronic data, and about the ministers’ property card.

Deputy Zeljko Tomic asked the Minister of Finance Diana Dragutinovic who controlled the funds from the Capital Investment Fund and how they were spent.

Deputy Slobodan Maras asked the Minister of Human and Minority Rights Svetozar Ciplic how it was possible that, after the audit of its annual financial statement, a company that ranked 20^th in Europe in profit showed a loss of over eight billion RSD.

Deputy Paja Momcilov asked Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic what they would do to bring to light the facts of the procurement of the Novartis vaccine. The second question he addressed to the Government inquiring whether it felt responsible for not enabling the Institute of Virus Research Torlak to make a domestic vaccine. The third question asked whether it was correct that the institute for quality control of medicines is looking into a Chinese vaccine.

Deputy Zoran Nikolic asked the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Sasa Dragin whether the jurisdiction transferred to AP Vojvodina should adhere to the agrarian policy and agrarian development strategy of the Republic of Serbia. The second question he addressed to the Minister of Human and Minority Rights Svetozar Ciplic, requesting an interpretation of the Law on Jurisdiction and Statute regarding the introduction of constitutionality of ethnic minorities thus turning them into national communities. Answering the question on agrarian policy, Minister Dragin said that in the EU the issue of jurisdiction in the sphere of agriculture was resolved by requesting that the register on agricultural producers and soil be in one place, because it was the means of granting subsidies, and food safety was in the jurisdiction of the Republic, while other jurisdictions can be lowered onto a local level. Minister Ciplic responded that the AP Vojvodina Statute cannot constitute anything and when it comes to constitutionality no parallels can be drawn between the Constitution and the Statute.

Deputy Zoran Ostojic asked the Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac whether he was familiar with the details of the agreement on a base near Nis signed by Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic and Sergey Shoygu during the visit of the President of the Russian Federation to Serbia. He asked the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self Government Milan Markovic how many Assistant Ministers there were in the Government and how many of them had not passed the state exam.

Deputy Nikola Zutic asked the Minister of Education Zarko Obradovic how it was possible that “Union” Law Faculty can freely provide education in the state of Serbia.

Deputy Milan M. Nikolic asked the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Sasa Dragin what happened with the Ministry’s response to the raspberry producers regarding the price of raspberries negotiated between the Ministry, the producers and cold storage owners. The second question he addressed to the Minister of Telecommunication and Information Society Jasna Matic asking how long the cable systems in Serbia would do business without having met the basic technical regulations.

Minister Dragin pointed out that the state cannot influence the price of agricultural produce. The Ministry wished to help the associations of raspberry producers in their negotiations with cold storage owners and they were satisfied with what the Ministry had done within its purview, but were dissatisfied with the negotiations with the cold storage owners and the talks have now been continued between the producers and the cold storage owners. Minister Matic asked that the question addressed to her be forwarded instead to the Republic Telecommunication Agency within whose purview it resides.

Deputy Vjerica Radeta asked the Government how it was possible that state property can be leased privately, listing the example of the Novi Sad Faculty of European Political and Legal Studies owned by the daughter of one of the directors of Vojvodina Waters whose representative office until recently used premises defined as cultural property which were now leased to the abovementioned Faculty. She asked what the price was for the lease of property that cannot be leased. The deputy asked the Ministry of Culture whether the premises were under its protection and in what manner the Ministry cared for cultural monuments. And thirdly, she asked whether it was true that at the time the abovementioned Faculty received its accreditation one of the members of the Republic Council for University Education the Development was the owner’s father.

Deputy Milan Dimitrijevic asked the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic to answer, as a medical doctor, instead of the Minister in charge, why the Institute of Oncology in Sremska Kamenica made patients pay for medical care services covered by the mandatory health insurance and patients form Vojvodina were put on a waiting list, while foreign beneficiaries receive treatment.

Minister Dulic said that the information the deputy talked about should be checked, as well as whether there were similar occurrences in other clinical centres in the country. He added that the answer shall be submitted in writing.

Deputy Srdjan Mikovic asked the Government and relevant ministries what was being done to prevent further usurpation of the Zemun magistrate building as a cultural monument.

Deputy Petar Jojic asked whether the privatisation contracts of several companies in Pancevo would be broken due to the buyers’ disregard of the contracts. He also asked what the status of the Pancevo aircraft factory was, whether it had been remodeled and restructured. He asked the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management what the status of Cold Storage Pancevo was, how it would be privatised, how many agricultural loans had been granted to producers on the territory of Vojvodina, and how many to producers in other Serbian municipalities. Minister Dragin pointed out that the issue of cold storages and company status do not reside within the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture, and speaking about loans, the Ministry does not divide farmers by region. The deputy also asked an additional question regarding the funds allocated for cattle breeding in the hilly areas of Serbia and about company PIK “Juzni Banat”, to which the Minister said he would send a written response for each of the questions.

The deputy asked the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic what would be done regarding the pollution in Pancevo, and the Minister of Health whether the decision of the Minister of Health that patients from Vojvodina may not be sent for treatment to Belgrade was against the law. Minister Dulic pointed out that the situation regarding the degree of air pollution in Pancevo was slightly better than before. He added that people were working on improving the situation and that he would soon visit Pancevo. The deputy had an additional question for Minister Dulic about the price of constructing a new waste dump in Pancevo and whether he had also consented to the construction of cattle graveyard in Pancevo.

Deputy Srboljub Zivkovic asked the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management several questions. First, who made the decisions about the import of agricultural produce, what about subsidies that had not been paid to agricultural producers, what about the debt to agricultural pensioners, what about IMT tractor factory, and what about the defunct mineral fertilizer factories. Minister Dragin answered the question about the subsidies saying that all claims have been paid out regularly.