BELGRADE, January 2, 2004

• MAROVIC:NEXT YEAR VITAL FOR DEMOCRATIC GROWTH OF SCG
• MAROVIC:SERBIA-MONTENEGRO HAS US, EU SUPPORT
• MAROVIC:RADICALS' ELECTION VICTORY IN SERBIA DOES NOT MARK END OF STATE UNION

• LONDON CALLS ON DEMOCRATIC FORCES IN SERBIA TO FORM GOVERNMENT
• RUSSIA WILL SUPPORT SERBIA'S ELECTION DECISION
• LAW ON FINANCING POLITICAL PARTIES GOES INTO FORCE IN SERBIA
• NEW CUSTOMS REGULATIONS GO INTO EFFECT

• DJUKANOVIC:EXPECTED TURN TO RIGHT IS BEARABLE
• VUJANOVIC:REFERENDUM TO BE HELD WITHIN DEADLINE ENVISAGED UNDER CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER
• EAR INVESTS 85.8 MILLION EUROS IN MONTENEGRO IN THREE YEARS

BELGRADE, Dec 31 (Tanjug) - Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) President Svetozar Marovic said on Wednesday that Serbia and Montenegro never enjoyed better relations than at the present time, and that the next year could be the crucial one for the democratic growth of the state union, especially regarding its association to the most developed societies in Europe. In a New Year Address to the Nation, Marovic said the country badly needs the widest possible national consensus that all the political diversities, which exist in every democratic society, must not be an obstacle to the state union's stepped up accession to the European Union (EU).

"We expect to become a full member of the Partnership for Peace program in four months' time. During March, we expect work to be completed on the feasibility study and we are doing our utmost to secure that it is a positive one. That would mark a new, more important, but also much more demanding phase of our accession to the European Union," the President said.

PODGORICA, Dec 31 (Tanjug) - Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic said on Wednesday that the state union had a future, because its policy enjoyed an increasingly clear and strong support of the European Union and the United States. "After nine months of functioning of this largely specific union of two members, Serbia-Montenegro is much closer to Europe than ever before and we expect it to get the positive assessment in the Feasibility Study in order to open negotiations about the signing of an agreement on stabilisation and association with the European Union," Marovic told the Podgorica daily Dan.

He said that "in a short while, the state union has demonstrated its democratic potentials," because "under the Belgrade Agreement, relations between Serbia and Montenegro have been organised in a democratic way, like never before in their history." Marovic said that the policy of Serbia-Montenegro presently enjoyed full support of the European Union, United States and other friendly countries in the world and added that "this is best demonstrated by the financial support to reforms, which were supported by more than 700 million euros in the past nine months and assistance of another 1.1 billion euros has already been announced for 2004."

PODGORICA, Dec 31 (Tanjug) - Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic said on Wednesday that the victory of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) at the Serbian early parliamentary elections did not mean that the state union of Serbia-Montenegro would cease to exist. In an interview to the Podgorica daily Dan, Marovic said that even before the elections in Serbia, his view had been opposed to those who believed that the Radicals' victory would mark the final end of the state union. "The state union is an agreement between Serbia and Montenegro, and the will of the majority of citizens in both member-states must be observed, like their representatives have the obligation to observe the Belgrade Agreement and the Constitutional Charter," the Serbia-Montenegro president said.

BELGRADE, Dec 31 (Tanjug) - British Assistant Foreign Secretary Denis MacShane on Wednesday expressed satisfaction that the results of the parliamentary elections in Serbia have shown the vast majority of the nation want a democratic future within Europe, and called on democratic forces as soon as possible to form the new Serbian government.

A British Belgrade Embassy statement sent to Tanjug said MacShane urged all democratic parties to work together and set up a government as soon as possible, so that they can continue the realization of the reform program in Serbia. The assistant secretary said his motive was a wish to see Serbia make concrete progress toward Euro-Atlantic integrations and the European Union (EU) in the year 2004, the statement said.

BELGRADE, Dec 31 (Tanjug) - Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Serbia and Montenegro Vladimir Ivanovski has said that there is a consensus among all political parties in the Russian Parliament on good relations with Serbia, no matter who is in power. "The most important thing to us is that a new government continues the launched cooperation with Russia," Ambassador Ivanovski said in an interview published by Vecernje Novosti on Wednesday. Ambassador Ivanovski underlined that he is confident that Serbia's new government will respect the agreements signed on the return of debts of the USSR and Yugoslavia, and on the Djerdap hydro-electric power plant.

BELGRADE, Jan 1 (Tanjug) - The law on financing political parties, which goes into force Thursday, January 1, in Serbia, bans financing from foreign sources, domestic public companies or state institutions, or anonymous donors, and sets out that the parties will be financed mainly from membership fees and Serbia's budget. Serbia's budget will earmark about 500 million dinars for party financing in 2004, of which 300 million for regular activities and about 200 million for pre-election campaign. According to the new law, financing from private sources for pre-election campaign cannot exceed 20 percent of the financing from public sources. As regards domestic private sources of financing, the amount cannot exceed 350-400 million dinars, and all donors will have to make their donations public.

Private donations to parties cannot exceed 1,000 average wages in Serbia if made by individuals, or 10,000 average wages if made by legal entities. Political parties in Serbia cannot be financed by foreign nationals, companies organizing games or manufacturing excise goods, employees of state institutions, or individuals who fail to pay their taxes. Budget allocations to political parties will be under strictest control in Europe, in line with recommendations by the Council of Europe, and high fines are envisaged for parties falsifying their financial statements. These statements must be certified by authorized auditors and published in the Official Gazette.

BELGRADE, Jan 1 (Tanjug) - The new customs regulations which go into effect Thursday, January 1, have reintroduced the practice of issuing customs declarations, mandatory for all goods worth over 3,000 euros. The new regulations are in line with the rules of the World Trade Organizations and the European Union. They also institute a customs agent, in line with the US model, who will act as a representative in customs procedure after passing an examination and receiving a license from the customs administration.

The goal of the new regulations is to reduce the number of controls at border crossings to one in five vehicles, but special customs control offices will be created for preventive, current and subsequent clearances. Another goal is to foster international trade through easier and speedier border customs procedure, and help in fighting the trafficking of arms, narcotics and people, as well as to make the collection of customs duties more efficient.

PODGORICA, Dec 31 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin Premier Milo Djukanovic on Wednesday assessed that an expected turn to the right took place in Sunday's elections in Serbia but that it is still bearable. The most important thing for Serbia and the region as a whole is that the majority seats in the parliament were won by parties with a more or less democratic capacity, parties that see the future of Serbia among European Union countries, which are mostly deprived of ambitions for great states, or, at least, are inheriting them discretely and nonaggressively, said Djukanovic. In an interview published by the Podgorica daily Pobjeda on Wednesday, Djukanovic expressed hope that Serbia will soon get a government that would remain on the same strategic course.

PODGORICA, Dec 31 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic said that before a referendum on the state and legal position of Montenegro, which will be held within the deadline envisaged under the Constitutional Charter, "people must be realistically informed about everything that has been happening since the state union was set up". "They should be informed about the good and bad effects and about what the achievements would have been if we had been independent. I am convinced that this pragmatic judgement of the state union will have the crucial effect on its fate," Vujanovic told the Podgorica daily Dan. Speaking about preparations for a referendum on the state and legal position of Montenegro, he said that citizens would have to check whether they had benefited from the state union or if they would have fared better if they had lived in an independent state.

PODGORICA, Jan 1 (Tanjug) - The European Agency for Reconstruction invested a total of 85.5 million euros in Montenegro over the past three years, mainly in infrastructure projects, EAR spokesman for Montenegro Dragan Mugosa said. The projects included reconstruction of 126 kms of roads, construction of third lanes on the Podgorica - Budva and Budva - Tivat roads, construction of a bridge in Podgorica, and others, he said.