Laković resigns from parliamentary committees and PES parliamentary group: Continues as an independent MP

Miodrag Laković announced tonight in the Parliament that he is resigning from the position of Chairman of the Committee on Security and Defense and other memberships when it comes to parliamentary committees, as well as his membership in the Europe Now Movement (PES) parliamentary club.

Laković resigned after the adoption of amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs, and will retain his mandate and continue his engagement as an independent MP.

The Parliament adopted the amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs tonight with 47 votes, and also adopted the Law on the National Security Agency (ANB) with 47 votes.

The Law on Internal Affairs has been criticized by the opposition and the non-governmental sector, who have pointed out that the goal of the law is to create a police state and that it is contrary to human rights standards, while the authorities have denied these allegations.

Laković said in the Parliament tonight that he saw that his colleagues from PES were "trying to take his word for it".

"I saw in the media that some colleagues from my club were giving signals to stop my presentation. This is another indicator of lack of collegiality," said Laković.

During one of Laković's speeches at the Assembly session, PES MP Jelena Nedović, who was sitting behind Laković, can be seen signaling to the chairperson of the session, Zdenka Popović, that Laković had exceeded his speaking time by four minutes.

Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić thanked Laković for his leadership of the Security and Defense Committee so far.

All of Laković's amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs were rejected.

"Vijesti" reported on March 5 that Laković had announced to party colleagues, including party leader and Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, that he would resign from all party positions if the amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs were adopted in the currently proposed form.