BELGRADE: CONSULTATIONS ON NEW YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT

BELGRADE, July 2 (Hina) - Yugoslavia's President Vojislav Kostunica on Monday starts consultations on the appointment of a new prime minister to compose a new federal government. According to the Constitution, the new premier should hail from Montenegro as the incumbent head of state comes from Serbia. The federation's last PM, Zoran Zizic, tendered his resignation last week over objections from Montenegro's Socialist People's Party (SNP) to the extradition of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to UN's war crimes tribunal in The Hague. According to Belgrade's media, the most likely candidate for the PM is Dragan Soc, the president of the People's Party, a member of the For Yugoslavia coalition, which also includes the SNP. The ruling coalition in Serbia, DOS, has not taken a position, leaving negotiations to Kostunica and avoiding conflicts. The DOS slammed Zizic's resignation but has not gone further. Serbia's PM Zoran Djindjic maintains the new federal government will be formed in a few days but "will not bring more stability than there is now." Djindjic, as most DOS leaders, is in such a hurry to solve the status of the federal government that they are willing to enter unprincipled and rocky coalitions. The money donated by the international community at a conference last week must start flowing in but will not without the existence of even a formal government, i.e. an even only apparent stability. (hina) ha sb