Southern European state, bordered to the North with Hungary, to the NE with Romania, to the East with Bulgaria, to the South with Macedonia and Albania, to the West with Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the NW with the Croatia. Formerly part of Yugoslavia, which became independent in 1992, together with Montenegro, with the name of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (transformed in 2003 into the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro), it assumed its current borders in June 2006, following the proclamation of independence of Montenegro (see below: History). The Serbia covers an area of 88,361 km 2 and by a 2005 estimate it had a population of just over 10 million residents, equal to an average density of 114 residents / km 2.
The official language is Serbian, the currency unit is the new dinar. The capital, Belgrade, concentrates 1.2 million residents (1.7 considering the metropolitan area). As regards the economic conditions of the Serbia, please refer to the item Serbia and Montenegro, as at present it is not possible to have reliable indices and statistical data of the two disaggregated countries.
Politics
Balkan state formed following the declaration of independence of Montenegro (June 2006) from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (for the previous period, see Serbia and Montenegro). The legislative elections held in January 2007 awarded the victory to the Serbian Radical Party (Srpska Radikalna Stranka, SRS) of V. Šešelj which obtained 28.6 % of the votes (81 seats), followed by the Democratic Party (Demokratska Stranka, DS) with the 22.7 % (64 seats, 27 more than the consultations of 2003), from the Democratic Party of Serbia / New Serbia alliance (Demokratska Stranka Srbije / Nova Srbija, DSS / NS; 16.5 %, 47 seats), from the G 17 + (G 17 Plus; 6.8 %, 19 seats) and the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička Partija Srbije, SPS; 5.6 %, 16 seats).
In February, Serbian President B. Tadić rejected the plan presented by UN Special Envoy M. Ahtisaari on the future of Kosovo, since it posed a serious threat to both Serbian integrity and territorial sovereignty.