Serbia and Montenegro

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Country in southeast Europe, with a southwest coastline on the Adriatic Sea, bounded west by Bosnia-Herzegovina, northwest by Croatia, north by Hungary, east by Romania and Bulgaria, and south by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania.

Government
The present constitution was adopted in 1992 for the ‘rump federation’ of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro. There is a two-chamber federal assembly, the Savezna Skupstina, consisting of a 138-member Chamber of Citizens – 108 of whose members are directly elected from Serbia and the rest from Montenegro – and a 40-member Chamber of the Republics, with 20 members selected by each republic to reflect party strengths. The combined assemblies elect a federal president, who chooses a prime minister to head a cabinet of some 15 members. The constitution provides for the president and prime minister to be drawn from different republics.

The two constituent republics, Serbia and Montenegro, have their own presidents and assemblies. The federal assembly is supreme in defence matters and can declare a state of emergency in a constituent republic. However, in practice, the authority of the individual republics, which function as virtually independent states, is greater than that of the federal government.

History
Until 1992 Serbia and Montenegro – along with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia – were constituent republics of Yugoslavia. When Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia declared independence and seceded from the federation in the period 1991–92 Serbia and Montenegro declared the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Red and white are the traditional colours of South East Asia. The blue canton recalls the British Empire and represents unity. Yellow is the colour of the Sultans of Malaysia. Effective date: 16 September 1963. >>