The Committee on Petitions and Proposals organised a public hearing on 14 April at the Small Hall of the National Assembly House, on the “Cooperation between the National Assembly’s Committee on Petitions and Proposals and local self-government commissions i.e. working bodies dealing with similar matters”.

The opening of the meeting was attended by National Assembly Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic who addressed the participants:

“Honoured Mr. Dujovic,

Honoured Mr. Moore,

Honoured Mr. Antonijevic,

Esteemed representatives of state authorities and independent bodies,

Esteemed representatives of local level commissions and working bodies,

Esteemed fellow deputies,

Allow me to welcome you to the National Assembly House. Thank you for such wide support of the work of the National Assembly’s Committee on Petitions and Proposals. The fact that we – representatives of independent bodies, state authorities, civil society, local level commissions and working bodies from 60 municipalities – gathered today at this public hearing, promoting cooperation among us, proves our commitment to do all in our power to help the citizens who approach us.

Of course, the National Assembly’s work does not only comprise plenary sittings which are the most accessible to the public, it also includes the work of our Committees. The Committees are the “nerve” of assembly life. This hearing is an opportunity to and one of the ways in which we can bring the work of the Committee on Petitions and Proposals closer to the public, as well as bring the NARS closer to our citizens and show them how we cooperate with other institutions. On the way we are assisted by our traditional partners – OSCE Mission to Serbia – for which we are again grateful.

In addition to the constitutional and legislative government, the National Assembly realises its representative function by considering civic proposals and petitions and through direct contacts with the public. The National Assembly’s doors are always open to our citizens. This is confirmed by the fact that more than 9,000 citizens visited the National Assembly or utilized one of the communication programmes developed within the National Assembly in 2010. Our doors are open for all the citizens’ problems which we cannot always solve, but which can be most often resolved on the local level. That is why the hearing provides an excellent opportunity to standardize the criteria of mutual work.

The appeals and proposals, initiatives and petitions sent by the citizens to the National Assembly provide us with invaluable information on the flaws and problems in certain segments of the society and provide a valuable basis for the implementation of specific measures to overcome them.

The legal infrastructure constructed during the current mandate and comprising 600 adopted laws and 168 other acts is extremely important, but requires a more intense phase of control over the implementation of the adopted regulations i.e. strengthening the National Assembly’s control function in the upcoming period. Civic appeals and proposals, initiatives and petitions are indispensable to this end.

The Committee organising the public hearing received 236 petitions and proposals in 2010 and treated each with the utmost attention and swiftness. The Committee completed more than 600 telephone calls and organised about 180 meetings. I also wish to mention that the citizens forward their petitions and proposals to me as National Assembly Speaker. In 2010 the Cabinet received 305 memos, responding directly to 220 of them, and forwarding the rest to the relevant committees and state authorities.

I am sure that all of you, representatives of commissions and working bodies who have come here today from all over Serbia, representatives of independent bodies and state authorities, will put your knowledge and competencies at the citizens’ disposal, with the full support of Assembly’s Committee on Petitions and Proposals.

Thank you for your attention and I wish you success.”