Parliamentarians from the Serbian Assembly had opportunity (May 2018) to host their colleagues from FYR Macedonia and Montenegro, who are about to set up informal parliamentary group in their respective assemblies, similar to pro-active Green Parliamentary Group in Serbia.
The speakers and presenters were from different organizations and institutions: Ms. Ivana Stojiljkovic, Chair of National Assembly’s Committee for the Protection of Environment; Ms. Kristina Kujundzic, Manager of GIZ ORF Biodiversity; Prof. dr Andjelka Mihajlov, as an experts and representative of Environmental Ambassadors for Sustainable Development, Mrs. Tanja Petrovic from Young Researchers of Serbia and Dr. Biljana Panjkovic from Vojvodina Provincial Institution for Nature Protection.
Prof. Mihajlov presented financing of environmental sector, starting from the Polluters Pays Principle as the oldest environmental principle, as well as the User Pays Principle (applied when resources are being used and consumed) – historical background, functions, substance, principles in international law, EU law and in national law, instruments to implement. She explained possible financial tools (like fees, taxes, payment for ecosystem services, subsidies) and mechanism of collecting the “green money” (in budget), with spending back to environment (dedicated purpose) and/or to other purposes, underlining that environmental sector in region is suffering from sharing “the green money” with other sectors. Prof. Mihajlov pointed out the importance of continuity and long-term sustainability of financial tools in environmental sector, both at national and local levels.