Izvor: Tanjug/Rade Prelić
After the second inter-parliamentary meeting in Serbia's Assembly mediated by the European Parliament (EP) the mediators appealed for full implementation of the undertaken obligations and suggested the improvement of the conditions for general elections in line with OEBS/ODIHR recommendations, N1 reported on Friday.
The EP delegation's and Serbia's Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic's joint statement said the participants saw progress in the training of the electoral roll clerks and new Internet website with information about the roll.
During the meeting, it was warned about the general media environment and said the issue should be urgently addressed.
"But, the clock is ticking, and we call on the ruling coalition to stop losing time in discussions and start implementing the agreed. For that to be successful, we call upon the opposition to return to the Parliament and include into the dialogue so that the ruling coalition is held responsible for implementing the obligations," Tanja Fajon, a MEP and the Chair of the European Parliament Delegation to EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, said after the meeting.
Gojkovic thanked the EP delegation for mediation and said the Parliament was an important place for talks to improve conditions for general elections due next spring.
Slovakian MEP Vladimir Bilcik, the EP rapporteur for Serbia, said limited progress had been made.
"Both the ruling coalition and opposition had to take a step forward, to move away from their starting positions. We've heard about the frustrations regarding the lack of confidence, and it would be necessary to do something significant to rebuild the trust in the whole political spectre and to show to the people that real efforts are being made to improve election conditions," Bilcik said.
The main opposition bloc the Alliance for Serbia (SzS) boycotted the talks and had a separate meeting with the EP delegation.
It also met Serbia's PresidentAleksandar Vucic.
