RESECO think-tank and Konrad Adenauer Foundation with support from the Eduardo Frei Foundation have launched the PolitiKAS debate program for young parliamentarians as a new format for the PolitiKAS educational program, which has been organized for 11 years for activists from right-center organizations and political party members.
The new program included a series of discussions with young parliamentarians from the Serbian Progressive Party and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians. During five debates the topics such as regional cooperation, security challenges, and European integration were discussed.
The first debate on „Weakening the control role of parliament in modern democracies“ took place on Monday, October 17, 2022 from 5:30pm to 7:00pm at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Belgrade (Makedonska 2). The speaker was Dušan Vučićević, assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade.
The second debate within the PolitiKAS debates with Young MPs program, was held on October 24, 2022. The participant had the opportunity to discuss about „Intraparty democracy and representative role – How party work differs from work in parliamentary groups“ with with Ms. Hilde Palland-Mulder, a collaborator of the Eduardo Frei Foundation and a member of the Dutch Parliament for the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party, and Dušan Spasojević, an associate professor at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Belgrade.
The third debate in the program took place on October 31st, 2022. at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Belgrade. The topic discussed by Ivana Radić Milosavljević, an associate professor at the Faculty of Political Science, was „Serbia’s EU accession negotiations and the revised EU methodology – Introduction to clusters“.
„Securitization of various crises and the power of parliamentary debate – the impact of the war in Ukraine“ was the topic of the fourth debate within PolitiKAS debates with Young MPs program. The speakers were Mr. Jan-Willem Vlasman, a crisis advisor within the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) delegation for Serbia, Turkey, and Japan, and Stefan Surlić, assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade.
The final debate within the program was held on November 28, 2022. „Interparliamentary cooperation in the framework of the regional cooperation“ was the topic presented by Andrijana Lazarevic, researcher at the Institute for Political Studies, Belgrade.
The aim of the program was to provide additional knowledge in various fields to participants, which will contribute to enhancing their capacity to participate in parliamentary debates and also in significant areas of work in parliamentary committees. Networking of participants to encourage their cooperation was also an important aspect of this educational program.
