Meeting of representatives of key institutions engaged in the Chapter 23 Action Plan with representatives of the Ministry of Finance and other financial institutions in Serbia

The Republic of Serbia is fully committed to the process of European integration and aware that this process requires substantial and fundamental changes in the judiciary, as well as in the process of developing the reform steps in Chapter 23. Further process in that respect requires harmonization of the Action plan of the Chapter 23 (“Action plan”) with Serbian law. In order to achieve the respective goal, all stakeholders of the Action Plan need to gain positive opinion of the Ministry of Finance on the Estimation of the financial effects. If the Ministry of Finance provides positive feedback, Serbian Parliament will perform further legislative activities and adopt the Action Plan.

Further, in order to achieve the respective goal, Ministry of Justice, as a leading institution for the Chapter 23, organized meeting with the representatives from the financial sector and gathered all institutions (47 institutions) included in the negotiation process for the Chapter 23. The meeting was held on 24th November 2015.

In order to achieve the realistic picture of Action plan implementation costs, there is a need for cooperation of different professions who are taking active role in negotiation process. Having in mind the above, it is clear that budgeting process of the Action plan is complex and time consuming and includes several phases. The first phase is the collection of all qualitative elements which include descriptive information and financial sources. Descriptive information shows how to achieve the realization of the activity from the Action plan (“Activity”). The Activity may be performed through stuff, material and financial expenditures. At the same time, information on financial sources indicates the potential source for financing of the Activity: Budget of Republic of Serbia, EU founds and other sources. After this phase, when all necessary information is collected, the financial sector will express the estimation of the costs of that activity.

The most prominent tasks that participants will be dealing with in the further process will be presentation of the Estimation of the financial effects regarding the activities of the relevant institutions.

Having in mind the fact that Action plan is a new type of document which will create a certain financial effects on Budget of the Republic of Serbia, and that Serbia now has a new form of estimation of the financial effects, it was very important to educate and inform all participants in order to achieve unique approach in relation to the manner of estimation of the Action plan’s financial effects. Therefore, in order to be better prepared for future process, participants are informed on the methodology for Estimation of the financial effects. During the meeting participants had inter active communication which allowed them to share relevant information and to improve their cooperation and efficiency which will be useful for their further activities in this regard.

The outcome of the meeting was the fact that the relevant institutions are going to be prepared for the further steps in the negotiation process. For the sake of clarity, the first step will be the obligation of the relevant institutions to present their prescribed form of the Estimation of the financial effects regarding their activities. The fulfillment of this step is the precondition for obtaining positive opinion of the Ministry of Finance, which is necessary for the further process of the adoption of the Action plan in Serbian Parliament. In the future process, these forms will be repeatedly prepared for each year, following the revisions of the Action plan. Considering the above, this step is crucial for establishing soil ground on how this process will be functioning so that the Ministry of Finance, is going to be able to adequately plan the budget for each year.

Participants from the relevant institutions were very satisfied with the meeting, i.e. they consider the meeting very useful for their future work. On the other side, the Ministry of Finance stated that the meeting was the major shift in achieving the better insight into costs related to the implementation of the Action plan.

Participants
The representatives participated in the meeting are: Sаnjа Pеcеlј and Аlеksаndrа Šаšо from the National Assembly of Republic of Serbia; Drаgоmir Pаnjkоvić from the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection; Divna Milivojević and Ljerka Ećimović from the Ombudsman; Ljilјana Zdravković from the Administration for enforcement of criminal sanction;, Nenad Anđelić and Slavica Stefanović from the Supreme Court of Cassation; Svetislav Rabrenović from the Special prosecutors’ office for war crimes; Olgica Mijalković from the Ministry of State Administration and Local Selfgovernmen; Dušicа Stаrčеvić and Gоrdаnа Меdаkоvić from the Ministry of commerce; Маrinа Ribаr and Мilјаnа Kоvаč from the Ministry of Internal affairs; Jasna Vučinić and Branka Isailović from the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs; Milica Isailović and Маја Zаrić from the Ministry of culture and information; Irеnа Injаc, Таtјаnа Мilivојеvić, Vеsnа Јеvtić, Ana Vračarević Stanić, Јаnа Ilić, Slavica Slemenšek and Milka Radović from the Ministry of Finance; Milan Prebiračević and Ivana Tošović from the Anti-Corruption Agency; Igor Kabilјagić from the Agency for the privatization; Suzаnа Brkоvić from the Republic Housing Agency; Livia Korponai from the Secretariat for national minorities; Smilja Maksimović from the Secretariat for Culture and Information; Milicа Kojić from the Commission for the control of state aid; Slavica Sretenović from the Anti-corruption Council; Mira Prokopijević and Danijela Žugić from the Republic Secretariat for public policies; Olivera Rajković from the Public Procurement Office; Vesna Ogarević from the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration; Vera Alvirović from the Office of Human and Minority Rights; Bоgdаnа Rаkić from the Office for the cooperation with civil society; Rastko Stefanović from the RBM; Blaženka Dudok Srdelić from the Human resource management service.