The panel entitled "Res Publica: Laws are a public matter" was held on March 17, 2017 in the Tribunal Hall of the Dom omladine in Belgrade. Discussions on the practice of public debates and other mechanisms for citizen participation in direct decision-making were discussed on the panel, which brought together about 50 participants, mostly representatives of civil society, as well as a report by author Danijela Božović on the practice of public debate in the first six months of the work of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.The panel was opened by Milorad Bjeletic, Executive Director of the Belgrade Open School, and beside him, Svetislava Bulajić from the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Mira Prokopijevic from the Public Policy Secretariat and Dragan Srećković, ahead of the "Trag Foundation".
In the continuation of the panel discussion, moderated by Vladimir Pavlović, Danijela Božović, author of the report, Pavle Dimitrijević from the Center for Research, Transparency and Responsibility and Dragana Aleksić from the Public Policy Secretariat , gave their views on the existing practices and recommendations for improving the process of regulations development in the process of Serbia's accession to the European Union.
Danijela Bozović pointed out that the current gap in legislative activities was due to the dismantling of the annual work plan of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the National Program for the Adoption of Legal Acquisitions of the EU (NPAA). She pointed out that for only 10, out of a total of 79 legal acts, how many were included in the parliamentary procedure in the first six months of the work of the Government, a public debate was held. The author of the report said that the shortcomings in the conduction of public debates relate primarily to informing interested citizens about public debates, implementation reports and timeframe for public debates.
Dragana Aleksić underlined the importance of adopting the Law on the Planning System, which allows linking planned, budgetary and reform activities, while Pavle Dimitrijević from the Center for Research, Transparency and Responsibility pointed to the lack of certainty and predictability in the legislative process. He said that the existence of these two criteria is necessary in order to raise citizens' awareness of Parliament's work and public policies that are being created at the central level.
The last part of the panel was reserved for questions and comments from the participants.
The panel was organized by the Belgrade Open School, within the project "Res Publica - Laws are a public thing", which deals with the role of the Government in the legislative process, with a special emphasis on public consultation procedures. This project is part of a broader Real Say on Policy project implemented by Trag Foundation in partnership with the Center for Research, Transparency and Responsibility, the National Coalition for Decentralization and the Foundation Slavko Ćuruvija, with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development.
