“The new Law on the Protector of Citizens and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance will constitute the valuable support to strengthening democracy in Serbia and the development of our society,” said Marija Obradovic, the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government at the today’s meeting with Tobias Flessenkemper, Head the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade.
She pointed out that the obligation of Serbia, as the EU candidate country needs to strengthen its capacities and ensure independence and autonomy regarding the work of the Protector of Citizens and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, adding that by working on these laws, she believed that the Ministry managed to give its contribution to the reforms and the EU integration process.
The draft Law on the Referendum and the People’s Initiative whose preparation is in progress was also discussed at the meeting. Obradović stated that the opinion of the Venice Commission on the mentioned Draft Law should be submitted in the course of the next month, adding that she expected that most of the recommendations of the Venice Commission would be implemented in the Draft Law prepared by the Ministry.
Flessenkemper informed Minister Obradović about the activities carried out within the project “Human Resources Management in Local Self-Government – Phase 2”. Both parties stated that so far, the collaboration at the implementation of both phases of the project had been very successful.
Asserting that strengthening the capacity of PA and administration in general were among the key points of negotiations for EU membership, Obradovic said that a significant progress was achieved in the field of public administration reform, all for the benefit of citizens and the economy, and added that the support provided by the Council of Europe was exceptionally valuable.
Photo and video gallery – source MPALGS and Tanjug
