Twinning Project of the European Union: Strengthening Capacities of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in the EU Integration process.

Budget: 1,500,000 €

Financing program: Twinning

Call: SR 11 IB OT 01

Funding body: European Commission

Implementing body: HeP - EPIS

Final Beneficiary:   National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia

Duration: 22 months

Summary

Improvement of policy, legislation and implementation procedures in a central level. Increasing efficiency and transparency especially in the exercise of its representative role, its legislative function, and more specifically in the harmonization process of the Serbian legislation with the EU acquis, as well as of the oversight of the executive power. The project was completed in early November 2014 and its results are in the form of concrete and tangible implementation proposals to the administration and leadership of the Serbian National Assembly.

Purpose

Provision of technical assistance to the Republic of Serbia, in order for the latter to organize its Parliament for the integration of the country into the European family.

Results

About 100 missions took place during the implementation of the Project. Of these, about 50 were educational (e.g. seminars, visits to other Parliaments), almost 40 were devoted in analyzing the Serbian National Assembly and in seeking ways to improve its operation, and 10 were devoted to the project management and co-operation with the European Delegation. At the same time, seven (7) visits of the Serbian Delegations to other Parliaments took place. Five (5) of them were to the Greek Parliament, one (1) to the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) and one (1) to the Slovak National Assembly. The project involved more than 100 Greek and international experts, including more than 50 officials from the Hellenic Parliament and officials of Parliaments of other EU Member States or Accession Countries (France, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Montenegro), following an invitation of the Greek Parliament. The Hellenic Parliament / EPIS collaborated with the 3 Centers of Public Law in Greece to implement the project (CECL, EPLO, CIEEL). Experienced executives from all the key departments of the Parliament (Scientific Service, International Relations, Administrative Support, Legislative Work, Parliament’s Channel, EPIS) participated in the Twinning Project. The selected actions of the Project provided political support for the necessary reforms in the Serbian National Assembly. Specifically:

•Improving the legislative framework, transparency, efficiency and internal functions of the Serbian National Assembly, in order to strengthen the legislative process and policies that contribute to the efficient fulfillment of the country's obligations during its accession process to the European Union.

•Strengthen Parliament's interaction with the Government and Independent Authorities, as well as involvement of the civil society in the legislative process.

•New communication tools have been implemented, such as the common project expert work platform where all project deliverables, discussions, missions, comments and calendar are available online. Computer tools such as the OPEN KM document management platform are available on the Serbian side for the needs of its scientific service. Finally, most documents are translated into Serbian.

The Project received very positive comments during the independent judgments carried out on behalf of the European Commission.