Serbia's parl votes in new govt led by PM Brnabic

The new cabinet's priorities will be investments in energy infrastructure and membership in the European Union, prime minister Ana Brnabic said after the vote in parliament on Wednesday, as quoted in a government statement.

“We are building a European Serbia and (EU) membership itself certainly does not depend only on us,” Brnabic, who will be serving a third term in office, said in her address to parliament.

"The new government plans to spend around 12 billion euro ($12 billion) on energy infrastructure," Brnabic also said.

The cabinet lineup is similar to the previous one, with a few exceptions.

Dubravka Djedovic is replacing Zorana Mihajlovic as minister for mining and energy, whilst Goran Vesic is succeeding Tomislav Momirovic as minister for construction, transport and infrastructure.

Out of 225 deputies present at the session, 157 supported the new government and 68 deputies voted against. Twenty-five deputies did not attend the session.

In April's elections, the SNS won 42.97% of the votes, giving it 121 seats in parliament in the 250-seat parliament. Its coalition partner got 11.5%, or 32 seats.

In the presidential elections, which were held simultaneously with the general vote, SNS leader Aleksandar Vucic secured a second term in office.

($=0.9954 euro)