Last night, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic attended the opening of the conference on Energy-Development-Democracy: Shaping a New Energy Future for South-East Europe held at the Small Hall of the National Assembly House from 17 to 19 October 2011.

The conference is held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Serbia Boris Tadic and is part of Serbia’s chairmanship over the South-East Europe Cooperation Process. The conference is part of the regional initiative “Public Dialogue on Sustainable Use of Energy in South-East Europe” implemented by a network of South-East European political schools under the patronage of the Council of Europe with the support of the German International Cooperation Institute and Visegrad Fund.

Addressing the participants today, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic said:

“Two words in the title of the conference are of key importance for our future under the South-East European sky we share – “dialogue” and “energy”. I believe the idea of discussing such an important topic invaluable so I have the pleasure to be able to greet our esteemed guests, on the behalf of the MPs, and welcome you all to the House of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

All dialogue is based on certain rules. Several months ago, this House passed the new Energy Law which continued the harmionisation of Serbian energy legislation and EU directives; what fills us with a feeling of particular pleasure is the fact that we have been commended for some of our innovative solutions thus confirming that Serbia in the EU would be a modern, technologically advanced, energy efficient and environmentally conscious Serbia.

The most important innovation introduced by the new law is the liberalisation of all the segments of the energy market in the Republic of Serbia in other words all of Serbia’s energy branches are open to free investment and open market competition according to the rules of the competent regulator i.e. the Energy Agency. At the same time, we created the potential for reform and restructuring of the energy sector so that Serbia might gain efficient companies to propel the rehabilitation of the economy as a whole.

As indicated by the agenda of the conference, today will be dedicated to many very interesting and useful topics, however, I believe that for us, parliamentarians, among the most significant ones is the one dealing with the parliament’s legislative and oversight role in reaching the Europe 2020 goals. I am also sure that we will all find useful, particularly in the shaping process of some future regulations, the exhibition opened last night at the NARS hall. As the title of the exhibition says “We saw the energy” i.e. its usage in the buildings and I believe that the legislators will find an adequate response particularly in these times that emphasise the need for energy efficiency.

Experts say that the future of energy production in South-East Europe lies in a common integrated oil, natural gas and electricity market. I believe them and therefore urge all the speakers to share their experience, thoughts, ideas with the participants of the conference. An integrated common market is a solution to overcome the problems the states in the region face, problems that exceed their resources and capacities. But I am sure we all share this opinion.

In the end, I would like to thank you all for participating in this gathering, unity, that already exists among us in energy production and thus give the opportunity to achieve such unity in other spheres. Again, I wish you a warm welcome and hope you will have a pleasant stay in our country.”