Tatjana Vukobratovic Spasojevic, head of the legal service at the Serbian National Council, said that, in the past months, the organisation has been hard at work on the issue of residence for Serb exiles from Croatia. She said that the Serbian refugees have been affected by the new Croatian Law on Residence according to which everybody is obliged to either cancel their residence or register a temporary absence from the Republic of Croatia within a period of five years by 29 December 2014. Vukobratovic Spasojevic appealed that the deadline be extended for another six months.
Miodrag Linta, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region and President of the Coalition of Refugee Associations, said that the option the Law on Residence allows, to register temporary absence from Croatia and keep both IDs, is a good thing, but the implementation of the Law is a problem. Linta also pointed out the importance of extending the deadline for the cancellation of residence or registration of a temporary five-year absence from the Republic of Croatia for another six months. He also drew attention to the illegal actions of the Croatian civil servants at the consulates in Belgrade and Subotica.
In addition to the Committee Chairman and members, the discussion on the position of exiled Serbs as regards the application of regulations governing residence in the Republic of Croatia was also joined by Dragan Crnogorac, President of the Joint Council of Municipalities, Rade Matijas, Vice-President of the Alliance of Refugee Associations of Serbs from Croatia, and Milojko Budimir, President of the Alliance of Refugee Associations of Serbs from Croatia.
After the discussion, the Committee members adopted a conclusion.
The Committee members also discussed the Report on the Committee delegation’s visit to the Republic of Albania, presented by Committee member Aleksandar Cotric. Elaborating the Report, Cotric opined that the visit of the delegation of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia was quite comprehensive and important. He shared many a suggestion on how to improve the position of the Serbian community in Albania. The Committee adopted the Report on the Committee delegation’s visit to the Republic of Albania by majority vote.
The Committee members then proceeded to establish a delegation to visit Tetovo.
The Committee members discussed the invitation to visit Slovenia and appointed a delegation member.

The sitting was chaired by Dr Janko Veselinovic, Committee Chairman.