Students of the Novi Pazar and Belgrade Universities were today given the chance to take part in a simulation of a session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

The simulation was opened by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gordana Comic and Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Thomas Moore.

Deputy Speaker Comic welcomed the students to the National Assembly House, the house of all citizens where laws are adopted and the institutions elected by it are controlled and supervised. One way of coming to the National Assembly to represent the citizens’ interests and work for the common good is to join a political party, said Deputy Speaker Comic. That is very interesting as politics is a job where one makes decisions that create the future of the society. She presented to the students the meaning of political engagement by personal example and the view that it is a matter of free choice and responsibility. Dialogue is the key democratic strategy and it takes place at the National Assembly which cannot operate without dialogue, reminded the Deputy Speaker. Listing interesting real examples, she outlined the difference between the dialogue process, preliminary agreement and debate. She added that the National Assembly achieved significant progress in the establishment of dialogue, to which all the deputies had lent their contribution.

Thomas Moor, OSCE Mission to Serbia Deputy Head, expressed his pleasure at being able to greet the students taking part in the National Assembly session simulation. He stressed that the parliament is the backbone of a democratic society and the deputies bear a grave responsibility. The OSCE Mission to Serbia fully supports the National Assembly in the realisation of projects aimed at increasing transparency, said Moor and thanked the participants of today’s simulation for their engagement.

At the simulation of a National Assembly session, the students of the Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences and students, members of the Novi Pazar State University’s Student Parliament, 44 of them, had the opportunity to learn about the manner of formation of parliamentary groups and the course of a session, by debating the bill on the prohibition of production, distribution and sale of soft energy drinks. In addition to the coordinators, the simulation was also attended by deputy Meho Omerovic.

The National Assembly is the carrier of the session simulation project in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Political Sciences and Munich Centre for Applied Policy Research. National Assembly session simulation has since 2008 been recommended as an extracurricular activity in civic education classes. The simulation process has so far been realised by a little more than 1000 high-school and university students from Belgrade, Novi Pazar, Loznica, Smederevo, Backa Palanka, Krusevac, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Novi Sad and other Serbian towns.