The following paper summarizes recommendations gathered during the regional workshop “Roles and Responsibilities of Legislative Services in Parliaments” organized by the National Council of the Slovak Republic (NCSR) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Casta –Papiernicka, Slovakia from November 5-7, 2014.

The workshop was a part of NDI‘s Western Balkans Legislative Strengthening Initiative (WBLSI), which assists parliaments in strengthening their law-making, oversight, and representation capacities. With funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), NDI organizes forums to support regional cooperation and information sharing, fostering a network between the Western Balkan legislatures and their European Union counterparts.

The event brought together members of parliament (MPs) including legislative and constitutional committee chairs, deputy-chairs and members, committee staff and parliamentary legal experts from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The participants drew on each other’s experiences--as well as those presented by colleagues from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland--regarding how parliamentary legislative services operate and provide assistance.