Parliament adopts conclusions on work of independent bodies

BELGRADE - The Serbian parliament adopted its committees' conclusions and recommendations on regular annual reports by independent regulatory bodies on Thursday.

The vote was preceded by a discussion on the reports for 2013 of the commissioner for protection of equality, the protector of citizens, the commissioner for information of public importance and personal data protection, the Anti-Corruption Agency and State Audit Institution (DRI).

The lawmakers do not vote on the reports themselves, but rather on the recommendations and conclusions based on them.

The meeting was begun yesterday with a discussion on the reports by Commissioner for Protection of Equality Nevena Petrusic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic and Protector of Citizens Sasa Jankovic.

The debate was interrupted last night due to an oversight by the chair of the meeting, Deputy Parliament Speaker Vladimir Marinkovic, who did not allow representatives of the independent bodies to address the lawmakers.

The meeting was resumed this morning, and speaking on behalf of the parliament and her own behalf, Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic apologized to the commissioners and citizens for yesterday's oversight.

Marinkovic told Tanjug that his failure to allow the representatives of independent bodies speak had been a mistake arising from a misunderstanding.

Presenting his 2013 report, the Ombudsman said yesterday that some citizens' civil rights had been seriously violated, but despite the protector of citizens giving a warning about the situation, nothing had been done to correct that.

Commissioner Sabic said that citizens were now able to obtain data from...

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