| Abolish yugoslavia Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030204/ap_wo_en_ge/eu_gen_yugoslavia_new_country_1http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030204/ap_wo_en_ge/eu_gen_yugoslavia_new_country_1
Legislators meet to abolish Yugoslavia Tue Feb 4, 4:56 AM ET
By ALEKSANDAR VASOVIC, Associated Press Writer
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - In the final chapter to the formal end of Yugoslavia, its parliament convened Tuesday on replacing it with a loose union of its two republics.
Lawmakers of parliament's two chambers met in a joint session to discuss and vote on the constitutional provisions of the country replacing Yugoslavia that will be called Serbia and Montenegro, after its two republics.
"This is a final act in a formation of a new country," the parliament speaker, Dragoljub Micunovic, said ahead of the session.
The federal assembly session followed the approval of the so-called constitutional charter by the parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro last month.
Any approval by the federal parliament will mark the official end of Yugoslavia, first founded in 1918 as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
The former kingdom became a Communist-run, six-republic, federation after World War II, and existed until the early 1990s, when it started breaking up in a series of bloody wars. By 1992, only Serbia and Montenegro remained in Yugoslavia.
The latest reform of Yugoslavia is a result of mounting independence aspirations of its smaller republic, Montenegro. The deal to form a new country was agreed on last year and brokered by the European Union (news - web sites).
The agreement envisages a loose union linked solely by a small joint administration running defense and foreign affairs.
Serbia's capital, Belgrade, would remain the capital, but some joint institutions would be based in Podgorica, Montenegro's capital. The deal allows Serbia and Montenegro to hold referendums on full independence in three years.
Although Yugoslavia will cease to exist if parliament approves the change, its state institutions will continue to operate in the next few weeks until a new parliament, president and a council of ministers are elected.
The state reform will leave Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica (news - web sites) Ñ who ousted former autocratic leader Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) at an election in 2000 Ñ without that job.
Kostunica has run twice to become president of Serbia, but both elections earlier this year failed because the turnout was lower then the required 50 percent minimum. Kostunica has said he would remain active in politics as the leader of his Democratic Party of Serbia.
Nationalist parties in both Serbia and Montenegro have opposed the reform, citing the need to preserve deep historical ties between the republics. Other factions, demanding outright separation, also criticized the plan for not going far enough.
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