The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has received Milos Jankovic, Acting Protector of Citizens, today.
Milos Jankovic informed the Commissioner that the activities regarding the preparation of the Annual Report of the institution of the Protector of Citizens had been finalized and that the Report would be submitted to the National Assembly in the next few days, as provided by law. The Commissioner responded with the information about the work on the Annual Report of the Commissioner, which is being finalized and about the fact that the report will be submitted to the National Assembly and presented to the public, until the end of March, as provided by law.
The Commissioner and the Acting Protector of Citizens agree that it is important that all state authorities duly comply with their statutory liabilities, which certainly applies to the liability to submit the report, as well. In this context, they assess that it is worrying that the National Assembly, contrary to the law and the Rules of Procedure, has not considered the reports of independent institutions in the last two years and that the Assembly thus deprives both itself and the public of impulses that could be very useful for resolving issues in various areas relating to human rights.
The Commissioner and the acting Protector of Citizens both assessed the current multi-annual cooperation between the two institutions as very good. They assess that such cooperation shall be continued in the same way in the situation in which the institution of the Protector of Citizens is lead and represented by the acting Protector of Citizens, and the Commissioner has expressed assurances that he would provide full institutional, collegial and personal support to the acting Protector of Citizens.