Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said on Monday that he had launched the procedure to have Economy and Regional Development Minister Mladjan Dinkic, who is also a Deputy PM, and a State Secretary at the Finance Ministry, Slobodan Ilic, relieved of their duties.
Cvetkovic announced his decision at an emergency news conference at which he said that Dinkic and Ilic had been informed of his decision shortly before his news conference, and that he had also informed President Boris Tadic of the decision.
"In order to be able to make all the changes which the public expects it to make in 2011, the government must act as a compact team rather than as a free association of important or less important ministers," Cvetkovic said, adding that being a government minister "must not be used as an instrument for personal promotion, but must mean responsibility for the performance of the entire government."
Cvetkovic said that his decision would be sent in the shortest time possible to the parliament for consideration, adding that talks on a government reshuffle and on candidates to replace Dinkic would be completed in the next two weeks.
The Serbian media have reported extensively in recent days about conflicts in the ruling coalition, primarily disagreements between the main party in the ruling coalition, Tadic's Democratic Party (DS), and the G17 Plus party, led by Dinkic.
The media have given wide coverage to Dinkic's recent interview with the TV5 station from Nis, in which he said that Cvetkovic should be making decisions as Prime Minister, but "he is not making any", and that all decisions were made by Tadic.
At the end of January and in early February, Dinkic had a disagreement with State Secretary Slobodan Ilic, after which he wrote to Cvetkovic, asking that Ilic be punished for his statements about the Slovenian company Gorenje, which he said were contrary to the government's policy of attracting foreign investors.
Later this afternoon, G17 Plus was to discuss Cvetkovic's proposal for Dinkic's replacement.
Cvetkovic said today that his decision was not directed against G17 Plus, that it did not refer to other ministers from that party, and that he did not expect the government to fall.
G17 Plus has six ministers and eight state secretaries in the government.
Serbia's ruling coalition government is made up of the Democratic Party, G17 Plus, the Socialist Party of Serbia, the United Serbia, the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia, and parties of ethnic minorities.
The coalition has 129 seats in the parliament, with G17 Plus holding 24 seats.
