Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic has stated that he is satisfied with the work of the reshuffled government in the first three months, adding that significant progress has been made in all domains, but that there is still plenty of work to be done.

"In the past two months, the growth in unemployment has been suspended, and for the first time since the beginning of the global crisis, there has been an increase in employment," Cvetkovic stated for the Belgrade-based daily Press on the occasion of 100 days of the reshuffled government.

The economic crisis had much less severe consequences in Serbia compared to much richer countries, Cvetkovic said, adding that this is the main task of this government.

"I expect that we will obtain the EU candidate status and the date for the beginning of negotiations by the end of the year," the PM said.

Cvetkovic stated that, with the arrest of Ratko Mladic, one of the main conditions has been fulfilled in Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY, which removed the biggest obstacle on the EU pathway.

As far as the solving of the issues in Kosovo are concerned, Belgrade started the dialogue with Pristina, which represents a huge initial step towards reconciliation, and which will result in the solving of concrete problems of citizens.

Regarding economy, Cvetkovic underscored that the government, in compliance with the earlier anti-crisis measures, adopted a package of post-crisis measures of economic and social character, primarily directed to the raising of the standard of living and increase in employment.

According to him, the government prevented shortages and secured acceptable prices of basic foodstuffs, and adopted a new program for subsidizing interest rates for agricultural producers, which is directed to the development of livestock farming.