Budget to precede Kosovo, no-confidence debates

Budget to precede Kosovo, no-confidence debates

81 lawmakers from the SRS ranks needed three more votes from another party so as to succeed in their bid.

The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) failed to back the Radicals’ effort to schedule the session, which would have been dedicated solely to their no-confidence motion and a draft resolution on Kosovo the SRS submitted to the Parliament today.

As a consequence, their initiative will enter regular parliamentary procedure at the next session and be put on the agenda after other state priorities, including the budget.

“Serbia’s priority is to adopt the 2007 budget. The Parliament will then address other mandatory issues stemming from the Law on Constitution, and discuss all initiatives coming from the opposition camp later,” Parliament Speaker Oliver Dulić (DS) told the press.

Asked whether the parliament would decide who to appoint as the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) governor, Dulić said that Article 5 of the Law on Constitution clearly said central bank governorship was one of the posts that had to enter the agenda at the first regular session of the parliament.

“Therefore, we will act accordingly and put it on the agenda,” he said.

Dulić added that next to the governor’s appointment, the Parliament would move to elect an ombudsman, a commissioner for public information and the State Auditing Council.

According to him, the Radicals-sponsored motion for a no-confidence vote on the government and their draft Kosovo resolution the parliament received today, would also make it to the agenda.

“The adoption of the budget and its accompanying bills will likely take up the next session. The no-confidence vote motion will be on the schedule, but I doubt that at this moment the discussion on government’s resignation should be put before the state budget issue,” Dulić added.