Parliament discusses laws on party funding, restitution

Legal regulation of political activity funding and restitution were discussed during the first day of the Serbian parliament extraordinary sitting on Tuesday. Another item on the agenda was the decentralization proposal filed by Mladjan Dinkic's United Regions of Serbia (URS). Parliament discusses laws on party funding, restitution During the plenary session, MPs focused on the law on political activity funding which, according to Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic, should create normative conditions for more transparent work of political parties. Elaborating on the draft law, Markovic said that the document should regulate the rules according to which parties would obtain funds under equal conditions and also contribute to further democratisation of the society. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that backs the government coalition announced that it would back the new legislations on political activity funding despite certain complaints with regard to some provisions, while the opposition parties Serb Progressive Party (SNS), Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the Serb Radical Party (SRS) made a number of complaints. The government coalition offered assurances that the law on restitution would be adopted in due time and that there would be no obstacles to Serbia's further EU path, since the adoption of the law is one of the remaining conditions for the country to be granted a positive assessment with regard to its EU candidacy status application. It is still not known when the bill would be submitted to the parliamentary procedure but it became quite certain after the parliament collegium that the URS proposition regarding the amendments to the Law on Local Self-Government Funding would be discussed at the next extraordinary sitting. Serbian Parliament Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic told reporters that there is a chance for the document, which is one of the five legislations the URS proposed within the framework of the campaign for decentralization, to be discussed on June 14. According to Djukic-Dejanovic, MPs of the Democratic Party are currently signing the bill, while representatives of the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) are expected to do the same, possibly followed by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). Parliament also discussed the last week's protest which was staged as a sign of support to Hague indictee Ratko Mladic by the Radicals, whose MPs ascribed the responsibility for the riots to Miodrag Rakic, chief of staff to the Serbian president, and SNS deputy leader Aleksandar Vucic.

Parliament discusses laws on party funding, restitution

During the plenary session, MPs focused on the law on political activity funding which, according to Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Marković, should create normative conditions for more transparent work of political parties.

Elaborating on the draft law, Marković said that the document should regulate the rules according to which parties would obtain funds under equal conditions and also contribute to further democratisation of the society.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that backs the government coalition announced that it would back the new legislations on political activity funding despite certain complaints with regard to some provisions, while the opposition parties Serb Progressive Party (SNS), Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the Serb Radical Party (SRS) made a number of complaints.

The government coalition offered assurances that the law on restitution would be adopted in due time and that there would be no obstacles to Serbia's further EU path, since the adoption of the law is one of the remaining conditions for the country to be granted a positive assessment with regard to its EU candidacy status application.

It is still not known when the bill would be submitted to the parliamentary procedure but it became quite certain after the parliament collegium that the URS proposition regarding the amendments to the Law on Local Self-Government Funding would be discussed at the next extraordinary sitting.

Serbian Parliament Speaker Slavica Đukić-Dejanović told reporters that there is a chance for the document, which is one of the five legislations the URS proposed within the framework of the campaign for decentralization, to be discussed on June 14.

According to Đukić-Dejanović, MPs of the Democratic Party are currently signing the bill, while representatives of the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) are expected to do the same, possibly followed by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

Parliament also discussed the last week's protest which was staged as a sign of support to Hague indictee Ratko Mladić by the Radicals, whose MPs ascribed the responsibility for the riots to Miodrag Rakić, chief of staff to the Serbian president, and SNS deputy leader Aleksandar Vučić.