Closer oversight of executive power under public pressure

BELGRADE - Opposition and ruling coalition MPs agree that there is an imbalance between the executive and legislative powers, noting that changes cannot be ensured through good will of the government or parliamentary majority, but only under the pressure of the society, reads one of the conclusions of the survey on MPs' perception of the parliament's oversight role, which was presented on Tuesday.

The government has the biggest political influence, and MPs did not recognize the parliamentary oversight as their primary role, and do not believe that they have enough political clout to control the government, said Vukosava Crnjanski Sabovic from the Open Parliament initiative.

Most respondents believe that through better and more efficient work they can strengthen the parliament's oversight role, and that the civil society can help in that, she said.

At a press conference titled "How Parliament Controls Executive Power?", the Open Parliament initiative presented the results of the survey dubbed "Control Role of Parliament", carried out from October to December 2013, including 105 MPs of the then ruling coalition and opposition.

Danilo Vukovic, from the SeConS development initiative group, said that, when it comes to control mechanisms, ruling coalition MPs associate them with work that is being done in committees, and not MPs' questions, public hearings, which means mechanisms that function within the parliament and exclude the public, while opposition MPs place an emphasis on MPs' questions and public hearings, and prefer mechanisms that involve the public.

Analyzing the work of parliamentary committees, MPs said that serious discussions are going on in them, and that they are dealing with important issues...