The Yugoslav government is expected to meet tomorrow to pass a decree sanctioning the handover of suspects such as former president Slobodan Milosevic to the UN war crimes tribunal.
Belgrade's reformist leaders are anxious to show the West they are serious about cooperation with the tribunal in The Hague ahead of a donors' conference next week at which they hope to raise over $1.0 billion in much needed aid.
They were forced to resort to the government decree after failing to persuade their junior coalition partners to back a bill in the federal parliament which would have regulated cooperation with the tribunal.
Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic said he expected the decree to be passed tomorrow, a day later than first thought.
He said it would provide for full cooperation, including the transfer of suspects such as the former Yugoslav leader, the central figure in a decade of Balkan wars who has been indicted by the tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity.
"The decree will be applicable to everyone, there is no one who will be exempt from it", said Mr Zivkovic, a leading member of Serbia's reformist DOS alliance. Yugoslavia is composed of the republics of Serbia and much smaller Montenegro.
The government of Yugoslavia has a majority of DOS ministers so the reformers should be able to push through the decree. In parliament, the DOS needs the support of its partner, the Montenegrin Socialist People's Party (SNP), to pass laws.