29th September 2014
The event on “Parliamentary transparency” took place on 29 September 2014 at the House of the National Assembly. It was part of the European Union (EU) Twinning project “Strengthening Capacities of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in the EU Integration Process”. The Twinning project is financed by the European Commission with 1.5 million euro.
The event addressed the topic of transparency in national Parliaments, while focusing on the Serbian and the Greek parliamentary practice. It was opened by Prof. Dr. Vladimir Marinkovic, Vice Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia and member of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC). Prof. Dr. Marinkovic stated that citizen’s participation in public debate and cooperation with MPs on a daily level is essential, in order for the National Assembly to be able to control the Government more effectively.
The Hellenic Parliament was represented by Secretary General Dr. Athanasios Papaioannou, who made a short presentation of the Twining project, followed by the presentation of transparency procedures in the Hellenic Parliament. Their presentations were complemented with speeches from experts from the Hellenic Parliament and the General Secretariat of the Greek Government discussing transparency issues from different perspectives.
The aim of the event was to strengthen parliamentary transparency at the National Assembly of Serbia, within the framework of the EU integration process. The participants had the opportunity to learn more about international tendencies in parliamentary transparency, as well as about the Twinning project between the National Assembly of Serbia and the Hellenic Parliament.
The event was attended by independent state bodies, namely representatives of Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Ombudsman, MPs, National Assembly officials and media representatives. It was broadcasted live through the parliamentary web-TV channel and can be viewed in the archive section in http://www.parlament.rs/.
More information on the Twinning project can be found on http://www.parlament-twinning.eu/