The government and the president of Montenegro rejected the election result as invalid and initially refused to recognize Koštunica as the legitimate president of Yugoslavia. After lengthy preliminary talks, however, on November 4, the new cabinet formed by Koštunica after the resignation of Prime Minister Momir Bulatović (SPS; October 10) under Prime Minister Zoran Žižić (SNP) was confirmed by the Federal Parliament in Belgrade. This new Yugoslav government, a coalition of DOS, SNP (Vice President: Žižić) and the Montenegrin »Serbian People’s Party« as well as representatives of the independent expert group »G-17 Plus«, wanted v. a. overcome the country’s international isolation since 1992. Relations between Serbia and Montenegro also had to be reorganized.
According to findjobdescriptions, President Koštunica and the new federal government saw it as an urgent task to stabilize Kosovo in accordance with UN resolution 1244 and to redefine its status internationally. There, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) under I. Rugova won both the first free local elections and the first parliamentary elections (October 28, 2000 and November 17, 2001).
In the new parliamentary elections for Serbia on December 23, 2000, the DOS alliance was again able to achieve a convincing victory: 64% of the votes and 176 of the 250 seats in parliament. The second strongest political force and faction in parliament was the SPS around Milošević (13.8%, 37 seats). Their previous influence lost with the election of the SPO and the JUL. Djindjić As the new Prime Minister of Serbia, he was commissioned to form a government. He was faced with the task of successfully continuing and implementing the economic reform and democratization of the country that had begun since the “peaceful revolution”. In the spring of 2000, a new conflict arose in southern Serbia, which led from March to May 2001 to the entry of Yugoslav troops into the buffer zone in the border area between Kosovo and Macedonia. At the end of January 2002 Vojvodina was granted autonomy rights again by the Serbian parliament.
In the dispute over the ongoing course to achieve independence in Montenegro, the government coalition of the SNP there disintegrated with the DPS and the Social Democrats at the end of December 2000, while the »Serbian People’s Party« remained involved in the new Yugoslav government (since 2000).
On April 1, 2001, the Serbian Prime Minister, Djindjić, had Milošević arrested after an ultimatum from the USA; Tensions arose again with Montenegro, where opposition leader Bulatović initially blocked the draft over a law that would also enable his extradition to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. The extradition, which also aroused new tensions with President Koštunica, took place symbolically on Vidovdan (June 28th) 2001, the indictment in The Hague at the end of 2001. The trial of Milošević, which was now also charged with war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, began in February 2002. In April 2002 a law was passed on the extradition of accused war criminals to the Hague Tribunal.
The power struggle between Djindjić and Koštunica, apparently since the DSS left the Serbian government coalition (August 2001), took place at the same time. on a controversial labor law – in sharpness too, again at the end of May 2002 on details of parliamentary work.
In terms of foreign policy, Yugoslavia endeavored to draw closer to the EU. On October 10, 2000, the government decided to lift the sanctions against Yugoslavia and at the same time to promote the country’s reconstruction and economic development financially. With Yugoslavia’s full and equal inclusion in the Balkan Stability Pact (October 26, 2000), the establishment of a new era of cooperation in the region was hoped for. On November 1, Yugoslavia became a full member of the UN again, and of the OSCE on November 27. In February 2000, Yugoslavia was not yet involved when five Balkan countries and Turkey, all members of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (English abbreviation SEECP; founded 1996), signed a Charter for Cooperation and Good Neighborhood in Bucharest. At the first Balkan summit of the EU at the end of November 2000, however, Yugoslavia, together with other Balkan states, was granted the status of a potential candidate for accession to the EU (without a schedule). In February 2001, Yugoslavia and Macedonia came to an agreement on the borderline between the two countries, which had been a disputed border since 1991. In March 2001, Yugoslavia and the Serbian Republic (RS) in Bosnia and Herzegovina concluded an agreement on “special relations” in Banja Luka; In December 2001, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Yugoslavia founded a cooperation council to deepen cooperation. The relationship between Yugoslavia and Croatia was also relaxed further. – On June 29, 2001, the successor states of Yugoslavia, which fell apart in 1991/92, reached an agreement on the division of state property.
The final dissolution of (remaining) Yugoslavia
On March 14, 2002, the Prime Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro as well as the President of the Yugoslav Federation agreed on a framework agreement (“Belgrade Agreement”) to fundamentally reorganize their relationship in a new joint confederation under the name of Serbia and Montenegro. Because of the related waiver of an announced independence referendum, Djukanović losthis absolute government majority in Montenegro (withdrawal of support from the Liberal Federation, LS), which he won again in new elections in autumn 2002. According to the “Belgrade Agreement”, the governments of Serbia and Montenegro (end of August 2002) and a Serbian-Montenegrin constitutional commission (beginning of December 2002) had to agree on a draft constitution for the future loose confederation; however, Kosovo’s parliament rejected the draft constitution for the new federation (early November 2002). With the adoption of the constitutional charter by the parliaments of the constituent republics and the federal parliament (end of January 2003), Yugoslavia was officially dissolved as a federal state and the successor federation of Serbia and Montenegro was formed Made possible at the beginning of February 2003. However, this federation was dissolved in June 2006 after the supporters of independence in Montenegro had prevailed in a referendum (May 21). With the formal proclamation of sovereignty by the Montenegrin parliament on June 3, 2006, the last two former Yugoslav republics became independent.
