Serbia
Executive Summary
Serbia officially gained its independence from the dissolved state union of Serbia and Montenegro on June 5th, 2006. The structure of its state institutions is determined by its new constitution, approved by the Parliament on September 30th, 2006. The constitution was subsequently confirmed in a nationwide referendum on October 28th-29th, 2006, and proclaimed the new Serbian Constitution on November 8th, 2006, thus replacing the outdated Milosevic-era one. The Government of the Republic of Serbia (Vlada Republike Srbije) is the main executive branch of government in Serbia. It is headed by the Prime Minister (Predsednik Vlade), as of March 3rd, 2004 Vojislav Kostunica. . The Serbian government is to be restructured, so that it can incorporate the Serbia-Montenegro Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence, as Serbia is the successor state of the state union.
Serbian foreign relations are marked by its cooperation with major international actors, such as the European Union, NATO, and the US, as well as, similarly to the other former Yugoslav republics, with the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In its 2006 Annual Progress Report the EU gave a positive evaluation of Serbia's efforts to ensure macroeconomic stability, to further privatisation, to reform its administration, and to attract foreign direct investment. Regarding relations with NATO, Serbia is currently hoping to become part of the Partnership for Peace initiative, expecting to be invited for membership in it during the upcoming NATO Summit in Riga. Yet, successful furthering of the Serbian-EU and Serbian-NATO relations are contingent upon the country’s full cooperation with the ICTY, more specifically upon its sustained efforts in hunting down and handing over suspected war criminals Radovan Karadzhic and Ratko Mladic. Serbia is also successfully developing its relations with the US, with both countries having signed several agreements on defence cooperation, most recently an Acquisition and Cross-Serving Agreement.
Economic activity in the Republic of Serbia in 2005 was on the decline compared to 2004, coupled with higher than planned inflation. Slight growth was registered mainly in the fields of industrial and agricultural production, and construction production, while trade and a greater portion of the services sector saw a rise in the real turnover volume. A favourable development in 2005 was the narrowing of the external current account deficit and the turning of the budget of the Republic of Serbia from deficit into surplus.
In the period 2004-2005 Serbia was a beneficiary of a large amount of financial resources for road, railway, airport and energy infrastructure reconstruction. If completed in due time, the still ongoing rehabilitation projects will lead to a major upgrade of part of SCG's transport and energy network by the year 2009. Principal sponsors of the projects are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the World Bank (WB).
Sources used for the profile:European Commission, International Crisis Group, Transport Infrastructure Regional Study, Regional Balkan Infrastructure Study, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, OSCE, CSEES