National Assembly Secretary General at High Level Regional Conference on Parliaments and Evidence Based Lawmaking in Western Balkans

The key message of the conference, which brought together high-ranking officials and experts, was that evidence-based lawmaking is more than a procedural requirement, it is a guarantee of governance quality, the rule of law and, ultimately, the citizens' trust in their elected representatives.

National Assembly Secretary General Srdjan Smiljanic addressed the Regional Conference at the panel entitled: "Parliamentary administration. How to enhance the capacities of the parliamentary administrations in the Western Balkans? Recent initiatives, good practices and main challenges", and pointed out that strengthening the capacity of the parliamentary service in the National Assembly takes place through the employment of quality staff, constant training and technical skills of staff.

In his address, Smiljanic stated that when hiring new staff in the National Assembly, special attention is paid to their professional qualifications, previous experience, as well as their demonstrated motivation to work in the National Assembly.

The Secretary General pointed out that the National Assembly is constantly training civil servants, both in the organisation of the National Assembly itself, and in cooperation with other domestic and foreign organisations. The largest number of trainings is organised in cooperation with the National Academy of Public Administration, and trainings are also organised in cooperation with the OSCE, German GIZ, UNDP, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, TAIEKS and other organisations.

"When talking about employee training, I think it is particularly important to train employees who deal with legislative affairs in the National Assembly so that they can independently process information and create expertise papers related to the control role in the process of adopting laws," said Srdjan Smiljanic.

He added that the Assembly of Serbia also takes into account the technical skills of both MPs and employees of the Support Service.

"New technologies are used that enable the use of all available resources. The National Assembly website is updated on a daily basis, and on it you can find all the information related to the work of the National Assembly. In addition, the MPs and Support Service employees have access to the e-parliament programme, which provides access to all data and documents that come to the National Assembly, and the course of the plenary session of the National Assembly, as well as the sessions of parliamentary committees, can be monitored. On the e-parliament, you can see all the data about the sessions, such as attendance at the sessions, voting at the sessions, submitted amendments and others," said Smiljanic.