Skopje, 26 November 2021 (MIA) – There’s need for legislative changes in our parliaments in order to ensure journalists’ safety by treating them as officials who work on the behalf of citizens. It’s something which we need to implement, having in mind the region’s EU aspirations, Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi said Friday at the regional conference on improving the dialogue between Journalists’ Associations and Parliaments in the Western Balkans. Representatives of journalists’ associations from North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia participated in the conference. Aside from Xhaferi, the event was also addressed by Montenegrin Parliament Speaker Speaker Aleksa Bečić, Deputy Speaker of the Serbian Parliament Radovan Tvrdišić and a representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Parliament Lazar Prodanović. During a press conference, Xhaferi said that participants decided to make the conference an annual event. “During both my terms in office, I’ve insisted that Parliament is citizens’ home, an idea that should be realized through the media or personal communication and is backed by all MP groups in Parliament,” Xhaferi noted. A joint declaration was signed during Friday’s regional conference, set to also be signed by Albania. Mladen Chadikovski, president of the Journalists' Association, underlined that current efforts undertaken by the four countries aim to keep institutions alert. “Let’s not forget the importance of freedom of thought for parliaments and media to be able to do their job, which is to serve citizens. MPs should use the power they have to create good laws and public policies, while the media should protect democracy and report freely and without bias on all the issues in society. Our primary function is to criticize all governments with the best intention – so that things change for the better,” Chadikovski said. He stressed expectations that Criminal Code changes will be adopted soon, putting attacks on reporters on the same level as attacks on officials. “This will facilitate the work of prosecutions and courts in regard to attacks on reporters and reduce attackers’ impunity. It’s also an important issue in other countries represented here today. We hope this to be a universal legal regulation that will help contribute attacks on journalists. Solidarity among reporters is crucial, so journalists’ associations in the Western Balkans have decided to act accordingly,” Chadikovski noted.