On the eve of the greatest Christian holiday, the Chairman of the National Assembly, Predrag Markovic, held an Easter news conference.

Underlining that the National Assembly had passed 20 laws in the course of its last three sittings, including legislation designed to put right wrongdoings committed over several decades, or regulate hitherto unregulated fields, Mr Markovic called on all institutions, from municipalities to ministries, and from the National Bank to the Assembly itself, to quickly remove any obstacles to the full implementation of laws. He asked the President of the Republic to sign the Bill on Churches and Religious Communities into law as soon as possible, thereby assuring its rapid coming into force. The Government was, for its part, asked to urgently introduce the Bill on Restoring Church Property into Assembly procedure, so that it could be included in the agenda of a sitting to be convened on Sunday 30 April for 8 May 2006.

Mr Markovic asked the National Bank of Serbia, to which certain powers have been devolved, to accelerate the adoption of its by-laws and so provide better regulation in then field of fiscal policy.

Regular local elections in many Serbian municipalities have been scheduled for 2006; there are also statutory deadlines for calling elections in municipalities where local authorities have been impeached. Mr Markovic has announced that elections for the president of the Presevo municipality, for the president and councillors of the Bujanovac and Medvedja municipalities and municipal assemblies, as well as for councillors of the Kovin municipal assembly.