Serbian parliament approves Kostunica's new
government
Xinhua News Agency - March 3, 2004
BELGRADE - The Serbian parliament on Wednesday approved the new minority
government headed by Vojislav Kostunica.
At Wednesday's session, legislators voted in the 250-seat parliament by a
130-113 majority with one abstention.
Under Kostunica, the government has 17 ministers and one vice premier.
Kostunica was a former president of Yugoslavia and is the current leader of
the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). Kostunica' s party, along with the G17
Plus party and the Serbian Renewal Movement-New Serbia coalition, has formed a
minority government holding 109 seats in the parliament.
The government is backed by the Socialist Party of Serbia of former President
Slobodan Milosevic, which has 22 parliamentary deputies.
Kostunica said Tuesday that settlement of the issue of Kosovo, a restive
southern Serbian province mainly inhabited by ethnic Albanians, will be his
government's top priority and the government will introduce reforms required
for joining the European Union.
On the issue of Serbia's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal
for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Kostunica said the government will try to speed
up war crimes trials before domestic courts. It will also seek help for the
defense of those indicted and will work towards the signing of an agreement
with the UN to require that sentences imposed on those convicted by the ICTY
are served in Serbia.
March 3, 2004, Wednesday 11:15 AM Eastern Time