Reports and Analyses

As Energyobserver unofficially found out, the NIS Assembly decided at an afternoon meeting, held on Wednesday 11th October 2006, to remove the 5th item on the day’s agenda, that is, they did not deal with the proposal concerning the separation of NIS-TNG from NIS. Instead of directly deciding whether to turn that part of NIS into a limited company (d.o.o.), the delegates decided to leave this idea to the Government of Serbia to decide. Belief that that the proposal should be considered once again by the Ministry of Mining and Energy has grown, as the proposal was made when the ownership transformation process of Naftna Industrija Srbije had already begun.

If a referendum is held in Serbia in October, and then elections by the end of the year, it would probably be a "reasonable decision" to postpone the Kosovo status solution for a few months, EU High Representative Javier Solana announced on Oct. 4.

In a debate in the EU Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, he said he had discussed the matter with the U.N. Special Envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari on Oct. 3, and that he would "probably" decide to postpone the submission of a proposal on Kosovo's status for a few months.

The quick adoption of a draft Serbian constitution has taken the spotlight away from the resignation of G17 Plus ministers.

In mid-May, then Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and G17 Plus party leader Miroljub Labus resigned, citing the government’s failure to meet Brussels' conditions for continuing pre-accession talks with Serbia -- notably the arrest of Ratko Mladic. But Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic managed to persuade the party's majority to stay in the cabinet through October 1st, giving authorities another chance to locate the war crimes fugitive.