The Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Dragan Marsicanin, convened the First Session of the First Regular Sitting in 2004 for 10 a.m. on Tuesday 2 March.

The National Assembly adopted the following agenda:

1. Election of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and ministers in the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

2. Proposal of the Decision on the Formation of a Board of Inquiry Charged with Ascertaining Facts and Circumstances Relating to the Activities of the International Criminal Organisation Engaged in the Trade of Electrical Energy as well as in Financial- and Banking-related Offences

The Prime Minister Designate, Vojislav Kostunica, president of the Democratic Party of Serbia, held a keynote address at the National Assembly in which he outlined his programme and put forward his proposal for the composition of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Vojislav Kostunica proposed that Miroljub Labus should be elected Deputy Prime Minister, Dragan Jocic Minister of the Interior, Mladjan Dinkic Minister of Finance, Zoran Stojkovic Minister of Justice, Zoran Loncar Minister of State Administration and Local Self-government, Ivana Dulic-Markovic Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Dragan Marsicanin Minister of Economy, Radomir Naumov Minister of Mining and Energy, Velimir Ilic Minister of Capital Investments, Bojan Dimitrijevic Minister of Trade, Tourism and Services, Predrag Bubalo Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Slobodan Lalovic Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Policy, Aleksandar Popovic Minister of Science and Environmental Protection, Ljiljana Colic Minister of Education and Sport, Dragan Kojadinovic Minister of Culture, Tomica Milosavljevic Minister of Health, Milan Radulovic Minister of Religion, and Vojislav Vukcevic Minster of the Diaspora.

After the Prime Minister Designate’s address, the National Assembly commenced discussing the programme and composition of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Election of Chairman and Vice-chairpersons

On the third day of the session (4 March), the National Assembly discussed the proposal for the election of Chairman and Vice-chairpersons of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and the Proposal of the Decision on the Formation of a Board of Inquiry Charged with Ascertaining Facts and Circumstances Relating to the Activities of the International Criminal Organisation Engaged in the Trade of Electrical Energy as well as in Financial- and Banking-related Offences.

As soon as the discussion ended, the Chairman of the National Assembly set the Voting Day.

A list of candidates for the office of Chairman of the National Assembly was drawn up, based on the submitted proposal, and comprising one candidate: Predrag Markovic, proposed by the G17 Plus Deputies’ Group.

An open ballot, by roll call, resulted in the election of Predrag Markovic, who thereupon took over the chairing of the session. Chairman Markovic had, before being elected, resigned from the post of Vice-chairman of the National Assembly.

The National Assembly then went on to adopt as a whole the Proposal of the Decision on the Formation of a Board of Inquiry Charged with Ascertaining Facts and Circumstances Relating to the Trade of Electrical Energy as well as Financial- and Banking-related Offences connected to it.

Having adopted the proposal to increase the number of Vice-chairpersons to six, and having drawn up a list of candidates for that office, the National Assembly elected Emilija Krstic, member of the Democratic Party of Serbia, and Dusan Petrovic, member of the Democratic Party, Vice-chairpersons.

As discussion and voting on all items from the agenda had been completed, the Chairman of the National Assembly, Predrag Markovic, concluded the First Session of the First Regular Sitting of the National Assembly in 2004.