BELGRADE (Sputnik) — The Serbian parliament on Monday voted in favor of establishing two new ministries, namely the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of European Integration, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
A total of 157 lawmakers of the 250-seat National Assembly supported the establishment, while 11 others voted against the move.
Previously, the issues related to the protection of ecology were within the competence of the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection and the issues of EU integration were in the sphere of Serbia's European Integration Office (SEIO) and of Jadranka Joksimovic, the minister without portfolio in charge of European integration.
On Friday, Aleksandar Vucic was inaugurated as the president of Serbia and called his country's accession to the European Union as the main priority in Belgrade's foreign affairs.
Serbia formally applied for the EU membership in 2009 and was granted EU candidacy in March 2012.
