Nikolić: We don't know if the laws have the EC's opinion; Čarapić: They were communicated; Đurović: They agreed to work as the opposition claims

The head of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Andrija Nikolić announced at today's parliamentary session that Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević (Europe Now Movement) is not respecting the agreement to inform MPs about which laws have a positive opinion from the European Commission (EC).

"Today we will discuss laws for which we do not know whether they have a positive opinion," he stated.

The head of the Europe Now Movement (PES) parliamentary group, Vasilije Čarapić, responded by saying that Gorčević sent a letter to the Parliament on April 1st, stating which laws had been communicated to the Commission, and which laws should be adopted by April 7th.

"I will make that document public so that the public is aware that we are working on the basis of the minister's letter, even though my colleagues from the opposition claim that the letter does not exist. This is about changing theses, attempting to deceive and create the illusion that we are messing around with European laws. The best judge of that will be the next Intergovernmental Conference, where we will see whether we will close the negotiation chapters or not," said Čarapić.

Čarapić published the document in a post on "Iks", claiming that "our colleagues from the opposition (the Soviet Union) deny the existence of this letter and claim that it is not clear whether these laws have the opinion of the EC."

The head of the Social Democrats (SD) parliamentary group, Boris Mugoša, responding to Čarapić in parliament, said that no one said that Gorčević did not send a letter, but that it said that "the laws were communicated to the European Commission."

"It doesn't even say that they have a positive opinion. That's why we asked for written confirmation of those opinions," he underlined, calling on the majority to publish the letter "so that we can see what the truth is."

New Serbian Democracy (NSD) MP Dejan Đurović stated that it is true that the principle discussed by opposition MPs (that there will be no debates without a document) was agreed upon at the collegium of the head of parliament, but he asked that an exception be made due to Catholic Easter.

"I would like to ask if there is a possibility of an exception this time due to Catholic Easter, which is, I assume, one of the main reasons why we did not receive this documentation within a certain time interval. And if you can agree to make an exception this time, and that every next time it should be exactly as we agreed at the collegium. That would be good for all of us and for us to vote for European laws and our European path," he concluded.

Nikolić responded that they accepted that today they work according to principles that imply that people who sit in parliament adhere to the truth.

On the agenda of today's parliamentary session are draft laws on working conditions on fishing vessels, air transport and working hours and rest periods of mobile workers on inland waterway vessels, as well as amendments to the law on accreditation and road transport contracts.