The Speaker of the National Assembly, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic received the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly for Serbia Davit Harutyunyan (Armenia) and Sinikka Hurskainen (Finland), in official visit to the Republic of Serbia from 29 November to 2 December 2010.

The Speaker informed the guests that Serbia was concentrating its efforts on meeting all the requirements set out in the “roadmap” agreed on with the Council of Europe.

The co-rapporteurs were interested in three issues i.e. the ownership of terms of office, blank resignations and judiciary reform. The Speaker repeated her personal view that the deputy should be the owner of his/her term of office as that is a reflection of parliamentary democracy and expressed her expectations that the new Electoral Law would regulate the matter of blank resignations.

As regards judiciary reform, the Speaker stressed that the issue is one of Serbia’s most important tasks, among other things, as part of the state’s concentrated fight against corruption. She added that the Assembly, for its part, had established an independent body - the Anti-Corruption Agency.

Harutyunyan congratulated the Speaker on the noteworthy results the NARS had achieved in the current mandate and stressed that Serbia enjoys the Monitoring Committee rapporteurs’ full support in tackling the further steps set out in the “roadmap”. He suggested that the Assembly should consult the Venetian Commission particularly regarding the judiciary reform and offered the Monitoring Committee’s assistance to intervene in the request for an opinion.

To the guests’ questions about the position of women in Serbia the Speaker gave a very detailed explanation that even though the number of women in the Assembly and other bodies increases daily it is still not enough, particularly as relates to appointing women to positions of power.

The Speaker assured the co-rapporteurs that the National Assembly has the capacities to continue with the current rate of harmonising Serbian and European legislation, as well as accepting the European Union’s suggestions so as to make sure the National Assembly and all of its bodies function democratically.