Addressing the members of the Working group at the beginning of the meeting, the National Assembly Speaker, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic stressed that the public nature of the Parliament’s work is one of the most important democratic legacies and that the working group has to agree on a manner of following the sessions that would respect that legacy.

The working group, set up by the National Assembly Speaker, comprises representatives from all the deputy groups at the National Assembly, with Secretary Veljko Odalovic as its coordinator.

At the meeting, RTS Public Broadcasting Service Director-General Aleksandar Tijanic proposed the creation of a parliamentary channel which would broadcast a daily programme via the existing cable system and allow the Serbian citizens insight into the work of all state institution.

Tijanic proposed that, in special occasions, when assembly sessions deal with the most important national and state issues, at the proposal of the President of the Republic and the National Assembly Speaker, these sessions also be broadcast live on RTS.

In the meeting, the participants also expressed their expectations that the adoption of the amendments and modifications to the Rules of Procedure would improve the National Assembly’s work efficiency.

The members of the working group believe that the creation of a parliamentary channel might permanently solve the issue of keeping the public informed about the National Assembly’s activities in a comprehensive and objective manner.

They agreed that RTS continue the live broadcast of National Assembly sessions until 1 October 2009, that is until the beginning of the regular autumn session. By then, as they said, all the necessary preparations for launching the parliamentary channel will have been completed, with RTS providing technical support financed from the republic budget.

Considering the importance of the issue, the meeting focused on the fact that all deputy groups at the National Assembly need to participate in the working group which will continue its work.