BELGRADE (Serbia), May 9 (SeeNews) – The main tasks of Serbia's new government will be to get the fourth and fifth review of its arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to implement the sale contract of steel mill Zelezara Smederevo, and to solve the issues with copper smelter RTB Bor, prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.
In an interview with Blic daily, quoted by a governmental statement, Vucic said that his long-term goal will be to ensure that by 2020 Serbia has an annual GDP growth of over 2% or 3% for six years in a row.
Vucic announced there will be at least six new ministers in the new government, but noted he is still undecided whether he will enter negotiations on a coalition with anyone.
A coalition led by Serbia's conservative SNS party of Vucic secured 131 MPs in the 250-seat parliament after winning nearly half of the votes in the early elections in the country, final official results showed last week.
The elections, held on April 24 and followed by a partial revote on May 4 over voting irregularities, were forced by Vucic who was seeking broader public support to push through overdue reforms.
Vucic, however, will control 27 seats less in the new parliament as the SNS-led coalition won 48.25% of the votes.
Seven political formations crossed the 5% threshold for entry into parliament, including the far right Dveri-DSS coalition and the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) of Vojislav Seselj, who recently faced trial in The Hague for war crimes in former Yugoslavia.
The Serbian Socialist Party (SPS), led by deputy prime minister Ivica Dacic, and its partner United Serbia, will have 29 seats in parliament. They are followed by the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) of Vojislav Seselj with 22 representatives.
The Democratic Party and the Enough movement will have 16 seats each, three more than the far right Dveri-DSS coalition.
Four other political formations of ethnic minorities for which the 5% entry threshold does not apply will have 9 seats and the Green Party will have one MP.