Nikolić dismissed from Administrative Committee

Serb Progressive Party (SNS) leader Tomislav Nikolic has been dismissed as chairman of the Parliamentary Administrative Committee. Parliamentary Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic said that he had been nominated for the position by the Serb Radical Party, that he had since left, and that “there is scope to believe” that the position should go to someone else. Nikolic dismissed from Administrative Committee “Usually that position is taken by an official from the largest opposition party or MP club in parliament. I think that it will be the latter this time,” Djukic-Dejanovic replied when asked who would be replacing Nikolic. Djukic-Dejanovic said that MPs would decide at the next meeting of the Administrative Committee who would be replacing the SNS leader. “The Administrative Committee has not been in place for long actually, even though we do have a formal chairman…We really have to change something there because it is a really important body,” Djukic-Dejanovic said, adding that Nikolic obviously did not share that opinion as he would have resigned otherwise. She said that all parliamentary committees and delegations that represented Serbia abroad should realistically reflect the situation in parliament and should contain representatives of all the citizens who had voted at the elections. “You must always strive to have as many people, if not everyone, agree. There is no preference for one over the other. The fact is that there are 60 Radicals and 20 people supporting Nikolic. Of course it is my job to get both to agree for parliament to work properly. But if I need to set priorities, it is more important that 60 people agree than 20,” Djukic-Dejanovic stressed. She said that solving this problem would ease the problems with the Constitutional Affairs Committee and the formation of international delegations. The speaker said, however, that there were certain SRS demands that the parliament could not solve, including their insistence on assuming the mandates belonging to MPs from the Forward Serbia group. She said that that issue was the responsibility of the Administrative Committee, the Republic Electoral Commission and the courts.

Nikolić dismissed from Administrative Committee

“Usually that position is taken by an official from the largest opposition party or MP club in parliament. I think that it will be the latter this time,” Đukić-Dejanović replied when asked who would be replacing Nikolić.

Đukić-Dejanović said that MPs would decide at the next meeting of the Administrative Committee who would be replacing the SNS leader.

“The Administrative Committee has not been in place for long actually, even though we do have a formal chairman…We really have to change something there because it is a really important body,” Đukić-Dejanović said, adding that Nikolić obviously did not share that opinion as he would have resigned otherwise.

She said that all parliamentary committees and delegations that represented Serbia abroad should realistically reflect the situation in parliament and should contain representatives of all the citizens who had voted at the elections.

“You must always strive to have as many people, if not everyone, agree. There is no preference for one over the other. The fact is that there are 60 Radicals and 20 people supporting Nikolić. Of course it is my job to get both to agree for parliament to work properly. But if I need to set priorities, it is more important that 60 people agree than 20,” Đukić-Dejanović stressed.

She said that solving this problem would ease the problems with the Constitutional Affairs Committee and the formation of international delegations.

The speaker said, however, that there were certain SRS demands that the parliament could not solve, including their insistence on assuming the mandates belonging to MPs from the Forward Serbia group.

She said that that issue was the responsibility of the Administrative Committee, the Republic Electoral Commission and the courts.