The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Dr Vladimir Orlic took part in the Conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments in Prague, on 24 and 25 April 2023. In addition to the speakers of parliament of EU member states, the two-day conference was also attended by the speakers of parliament of EU candidate countries, as well as the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.
In the conclusions of the Conference, the speakers of parliament of EU member states stated that the need was recognised for the EU and its member states to continue to proactively and decisively support the European integration process of the Western Balkans, with clearly defined deadlines for accession, after the implementation of reforms and the fulfilment of necessary criteria.
On the sidelines of the two-day Conference, on day two, the National Assembly Speaker met with Boris Kollar, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Slovak Republic, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as well as the Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Senate of the Republic of France, Jean-Francois Rapin, whom he informed in detail about the current state-of-play of the European integration process and the difficult situation for Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija. As he stressed, Pristina continues to openly impede any dialogue, for more than 10 years it has been refusing to honour the obligation to set up a Community of Serb Municipalities, terrorizes the Serbian people every day and organises "elections" in Serbian areas without any participation of Serbs, and for all of its misdeeds it seeks and receives rewards, the last of which arrived in the form of candidacy for membership in the Council of Europe.
The officials confirmed their positions as regards respecting Serbia’s territorial integrity, which the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia thanked them for. "The Slovak Republic will never recognise so-called "Kosovo", said Boris Kollar.
Ruslan Stefanchuk stressed that Ukraine respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia as a matter of principle. "We clearly communicated this at the time of the attack on your country in 1999."
The Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Senate of the Republic of France, Jean-Francois Rapin spoke of the importance of the traditional friendship between the two countries and the two peoples, and confirmed the support for Serbia's European path.