Serbia
Political Environment
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on October 28th-29th, 2006, and proclaimed the new Serbian Constitution on November 8th, 2006, thus replacing the outdated Milosevic-era one.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. Prime Minister is chosen by the National Assembly, with ministers being nominated by the Prime Minister and chosen by the National Assembly. The current Serbian government consists of 4 political parties- the Democratic Party (DSS) of Prime Minister Kostunica, the G17 Plus, the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) of Vuk Draskovic, and New Serbia (NS) of Velimie Ilic, with the SPO-NS alliance holding 7 ministerial seats). The ruling coalition also enjoys the support of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) of late Slobodan Milošević who ruled the party from the Hague at ICTY prison until his death in 2006. 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. The Serbia-Montenegro Ministry of Human and Minority Rights will be incorporated into the current Serbian Ministry of Justice.
The National Assembly is unicameral, comprising 250 MPs elected by a direct vote for a 4-year term. The president, as of July 11th, 2004 Boris Tadic, is elected by direct universal suffrage for a 5-year renewable term.
Kosovo
Though still a part of Serbia, Kosovo is enjoying a large degree of autonomy, with a UN-led process having started in late 2005 to determine Kosovo's future status, namely whether the province should gain independent or remain a part of the state of Serbia.
Belgrade's stand with regard to Kosovo's status has long been guided by the maxim "more than autonomy, less than independence", that is providing for a large degree of autonomy for the region, including the right to self-governance, but excluding independent decision making in external relations, and defence matter.
In November 2005, the Contact Group countries released a set of "Guiding Principles" for determining Kosovo's status. These principles notably include the requirement that there be no return to the situation prior to 1999 and no re-drawing of Kosovo's borders, i.e. neither partition of Kosovo, nor its unification with any neighbouring state.
The Kosovo future status process is led by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland, with Austrian diplomat Albert Rohan acting as his deputy. Ahtisaari's office, the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo (UNOSEK), is located in Vienna, Austria, and includes liaison officers from NATO, the EU, and the United States. Ahtisaari holds regular meetings with representatives of the Contact Group.
On July 24th, 2006, Ahtisaari brought the parties together in Vienna for the first high-level status talks. Serbian President Boris Tadić and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, as well as Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Çeku attended the session, and presented their respective proposals for Kosovo's status. Yet, meeting resulted in no breakthroughs.
The new Serbian Constitution describes Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia. However, UN civilian administrator in Kosovo, Joachim Rücker, announced that this move would have no effect on the international community's decision regarding the final political status of Kosovo.
It is widely believed that the negotiations will lead to some form of independence for the province, which Serbian leaders will reject. Regardless of the outcome of the talks, a new international mission is expected to be established in Kosovo to supervise the implementation of any status settlement, and to oversee the observance of minority rights. NATO has also announced its intention to maintain KFOR in Kosovo after the status settlement.