Speaker promises “to keep close eye on government”

BELGRADE Serbian parliament Speaker Nebojsa Stefanovic has promised that he will keep strict control of the executive power. He added that not a single important decision would be passed without parliament’s approval. Speaker promises “to keep close eye on government” “I will request from the prime minister and ministers to come and answer questions of the MPs, to explain their every move. Not a single important decision of the government will pass without parliament’s position. The new government needs to do a good job all four years and not to collect points three months ahead of the elections, like the previous one,” the speaker told daily Vecernje novosti. “You will see that we will control them. I will confirm it with my every action. They should be given 100 days to see what kind of projects they prepared. I gave the first reprimand yesterday to a member of my group. Ministers will have to be concrete and clear in their answers to the MPs. I will give some advantage to the opposition and more time for questions. We agreed, at my proposal, that deputy speakers should be from the opposite camp. A committee president is just the first among the equals and decisions are made by the majority,” Stefanovic explained. He said that the law on government, which allowed ministers to dismiss their associates, was just a way for the government to have control in all organizations. “The oppositions will always have the right to request the assessment of constitutionality. Serbia is plagued by the issue of party employment. I want to warn the future government, MPs of the opposition and majority that we should build a system, that people cannot be employed ad hoc but only those that are professionals,” the speaker was quoted as saying. He explained that it only seemed that jurisdiction of some ministries was overlapping. “They only look the same but they are in fact different,” Stefanovic added. “This is the smallest government, nobody prevented the previous government from reducing the number of ministers, they did it in the end of the mandate. Well, we are doing it at the beginning,” he told the daily. According to him, a platform for the negotiations with Kosovo needs to be approved in parliament first. “We need parliament to be informed about the topics of the talks and how representatives of our state will approach the talks. I want the parliament to set a foundation that the talks will be based on. It would be easier for those who will be in the negotiating team that way because they would have the support of the majority of MPs behind them,” the speaker pointed out. Nebojsa Stefanovic Vecernje novosti

Speaker promises “to keep close eye on government”

“I will request from the prime minister and ministers to come and answer questions of the MPs, to explain their every move. Not a single important decision of the government will pass without parliament’s position. The new government needs to do a good job all four years and not to collect points three months ahead of the elections, like the previous one,” the speaker told daily Večernje novosti.

“You will see that we will control them. I will confirm it with my every action. They should be given 100 days to see what kind of projects they prepared. I gave the first reprimand yesterday to a member of my group. Ministers will have to be concrete and clear in their answers to the MPs. I will give some advantage to the opposition and more time for questions. We agreed, at my proposal, that deputy speakers should be from the opposite camp. A committee president is just the first among the equals and decisions are made by the majority,” Stefanović explained.

He said that the law on government, which allowed ministers to dismiss their associates, was just a way for the government to have control in all organizations.

“The oppositions will always have the right to request the assessment of constitutionality. Serbia is plagued by the issue of party employment. I want to warn the future government, MPs of the opposition and majority that we should build a system, that people cannot be employed ad hoc but only those that are professionals,” the speaker was quoted as saying.

He explained that it only seemed that jurisdiction of some ministries was overlapping.

“They only look the same but they are in fact different,” Stefanović added.

“This is the smallest government, nobody prevented the previous government from reducing the number of ministers, they did it in the end of the mandate. Well, we are doing it at the beginning,” he told the daily.

According to him, a platform for the negotiations with Kosovo needs to be approved in parliament first.

“We need parliament to be informed about the topics of the talks and how representatives of our state will approach the talks. I want the parliament to set a foundation that the talks will be based on. It would be easier for those who will be in the negotiating team that way because they would have the support of the majority of MPs behind them,” the speaker pointed out.