Democratic performances of parliaments of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro were the topic of the international conference held at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade. This program was supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Regional Research Promotion Programme (RRPP). Dr. Slavisa Orlovic, project manager and John Stosic, representative of the RRPP spoke at the opening and research results were presented by Jelena Loncar and Dusan Spasojevic from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade.

“Parliament is the central institution, it is a place where the system is changed and were the system is preserved”, said Professor Orlovic. He added that the states in the Balkans are weak, and their stability can only be accomplished through parliamentary democracy. The professor pointed out that the Parliament of Serbia has a strong position in the Constitution, but not in practice, and because citizens have little confidence in him.

On the second day of the international conference spoke Professor. Dr. Drago Zajc from Slovenia, Goran Markovic, Damir Sahadžić Maja Banovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Boris Vukicevic, Zlatko Vujovic, Natasha Ruzic and Nenad Koprivica from Montenegro.

Legislative functions of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina is very complex, because there are specifics that derive from the very nature of the political system. “In our country, unlike other countries, there is no law on Parliamentary Assembly, while the Constitution provides for a legislative body with a small number of members and it is a big problem, because of the question of democratic legitimacy,” said Goran Markovic, who added that most proposals of the law in Bosnia and Herzegovina came from the Council of Ministers.

Damir Banovic from Sarajevo Open Centre pointed out the importance of transparency in the work of Parliament, and to institute transparency determines the nature of the political system. “To allow further democratic processes, representative of Commons should be a good guide to access to public information,” he said.

This article is taken from the web page of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade.