A new convocation of the Economic Caucus constituted in the National Assembly
The new convocation of the Economic Caucus was constituted today in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. The key goal of this parliamentary group will be the dialogue on the legislative proposals that reach the parliament and their improvement in the final phase of adoption. More than 30 deputies from 13 parliamentary groups of the ruling majority and the opposition applied for participation in the work of the Caucus, and it is also open to other members of parliament.
The chairman of the Economic Caucus in the new convocation will be the representative of the Serbian Progressive Party, Ninoslav Erić, while the vice-presidents will be Gorica Gajić (DSS) and Zoran Tomić (SNS). According to him, the task of the Caucus is to work on building a political consensus around important economic issues and legal solutions.
- Through the Caucus, we want to establish a good mechanism of public-private dialogue and creation of public policies and to work together in the economic interest of Serbia, leaving political affiliation aside. The public is very important to us in our work, and that is why the meetings of the Economic Caucus will be open to all MPs, as well as to the economy, representatives of local self-governments and ministries, all with the aim of further deepening the public debate and offering improvements in the regulations because we are the last filter. before their adoption - said Erić.
The economic caucus was first formed in 2014 at the initiative of NALED and the International Republican Institute, and at that time it consisted of 14 deputies from eight political parties. Already in the first convocation, at the suggestion of the Caucus, nine bills were advanced by adopting 90 amendments that were agreed upon in the work of this parliamentary group.
- We started the caucus in order to gather MPs who are interested in improving business conditions and are ready to educate and inform about it so that they can expertly discuss the legal proposals that come to them, which concern the business environment. The first caucus exceeded our expectations and I believe that in the new composition we will be able to achieve at least equally good results, and we are especially encouraged by the composition of the new caucus convocation - stated the executive director of NALED, Violeta Jovanović.
Members of the Caucus will meet already on Wednesday to discuss the bills that will be in the sessions of the First Regular Session of the Parliament, such as laws on planning and construction, the procedure for registration in the real estate cadastre, agriculture, safety and health at work, employment of foreigners, fees for the use of public goods, waste management and renewable energy sources.
Bearing in mind that the focus of the work of the Caucus will be on laws that affect the improvement of business conditions, the constitutive session proposed to focus on eight areas - comprehensive improvement of property-legal relations on real estate (legalization, conversion, expropriation, spatial planning... .), development of eGovernment, improvement of the labor market, food and agriculture, digitization of healthcare, strengthening of Serbia's competitiveness through countering of shadow economy and encouragement of innovation, as well as EU integration.
With the participation of representatives of ministries, business associations, civil society organizations and other partner institutions at the Caucus sessions, MPs will be able to get more detailed information about what changes the regulation brings, how it will affect the life and work of those to whom it will be applied, and where there is still room to advance. It is also planned that members of the Caucus improve their knowledge through visits to businessmen and local self-governments in the field. In addition to considering the regulations that come to the parliament for adoption, the Economic Caucus will be able to initiate changes to the regulations, if problems in their application are noticed, as well as to monitor their implementation.
