New cabinet's first 100 days

Next week, the government headed by Mirko Cvetkovic will mark its first one hundred days in office. The cabinet was put together on July 7, two months after the May 11 snap ballot, after the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) decided to join in with the Democratic Party (DS) led pre-election coalition of five parties. New cabinet's first 100 days This group – dubbed For a European Serbia – the SPS and its pre-election alliance with the Associated Pensioners Party (PUPS) and United Serbia (JS), along with another coalition, the Bosniak List for a European Sandzak, formed the government. As he addressed MPs in parliament a little over three months ago, Cvetkovic said that Serbia's European future, rejection of Kosovo's independence declaration, strengthening of the economy and social responsibility of the government will be his cabinet's priorities. He also mentioned fight against organized crime and corruption and respect of international law in this context. Today, his cabinet ministers list as their greatest achievements the arrest of Radovan Karadzic and improved cooperation with the Hague, UN General Assembly adoption of Belgrade's ICJ resolution, contract with Fiat and ratifications of the strategic energy agreement with Russia and the SAA with the EU. However, the SAA remains suspended pending Serbia's full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. Meanwhile, the opposition believes that there were no significant achievements in the first one hundred days of this government. Serb Radical Party (SRS) deputy leader Dragan Todorovic believes that the Cvetkovic cabinet is "a total fiasco", but adds it is hard to tell how long it might last considering that Tomislav Nikolic's "spare party" has emerged. Nikolic himself, who left the Radicals and created and offshoot party called the Serb Progressives (SNS), says this government "will not last long since it is not up to the political and economic challenges ahead of the state". "Basically, it's a government based on Boris Tadic, not Mirko Cvetkovic, which is bad for the government," he said, and added that the cabinet "apparently does not realize it's high time to completely turn towards Russia, since the EU is in a huge crisis". The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) vice-president, Milos Aligrudic, says that the government has so far "done nothing", and that it "deserves one, one a scale of one to twenty". He said that the absence of any positive results pertains mostly to the policy of the defense of the country's territorial integrity "which has almost not been started at all". The leader of the Liberal-Democrats (LDP), Cedomir Jovanovic, says the past three months have been marked by a lack of results and of the government's readiness to define a new policy. "There was just one thing expected from a government like this, to earn a positive mark over the implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and they failed even at that. In these one hundred days there was no readiness or capability to overcome the cabinet's internal problems," he said. Cvetkovic and his ministers gather for one of the sessions (FoNet)

New cabinet's first 100 days

This group – dubbed For a European Serbia – the SPS and its pre-election alliance with the Associated Pensioners Party (PUPS) and United Serbia (JS), along with another coalition, the Bosniak List for a European Sandžak, formed the government.

As he addressed MPs in parliament a little over three months ago, Cvetković said that Serbia's European future, rejection of Kosovo's independence declaration, strengthening of the economy and social responsibility of the government will be his cabinet's priorities.

He also mentioned fight against organized crime and corruption and respect of international law in this context.

Today, his cabinet ministers list as their greatest achievements the arrest of Radovan Karadžić and improved cooperation with the Hague, UN General Assembly adoption of Belgrade's ICJ resolution, contract with Fiat and ratifications of the strategic energy agreement with Russia and the SAA with the EU.

However, the SAA remains suspended pending Serbia's full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.

Meanwhile, the opposition believes that there were no significant achievements in the first one hundred days of this government.

Serb Radical Party (SRS) deputy leader Dragan Todorović believes that the Cvetković cabinet is "a total fiasco", but adds it is hard to tell how long it might last considering that Tomislav Nikolić's "spare party" has emerged.

Nikolić himself, who left the Radicals and created and offshoot party called the Serb Progressives (SNS), says this government "will not last long since it is not up to the political and economic challenges ahead of the state".

"Basically, it's a government based on Boris Tadić, not Mirko Cvetković, which is bad for the government," he said, and added that the cabinet "apparently does not realize it's high time to completely turn towards Russia, since the EU is in a huge crisis".

The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) vice-president, Miloš Aligrudić, says that the government has so far "done nothing", and that it "deserves one, one a scale of one to twenty".

He said that the absence of any positive results pertains mostly to the policy of the defense of the country's territorial integrity "which has almost not been started at all".

The leader of the Liberal-Democrats (LDP), Čedomir Jovanović, says the past three months have been marked by a lack of results and of the government's readiness to define a new policy.

"There was just one thing expected from a government like this, to earn a positive mark over the implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and they failed even at that. In these one hundred days there was no readiness or capability to overcome the cabinet's internal problems," he said.