Following World War II Yugoslavia brought together six republics of different ethnic and religious backgrounds: Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Dalmatia, Slovenia. In the 1990s the country was splintered by civil war. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed Serbia and Montenegro in 2003, with a loose political union.
     The first stamps of the new Republic, designed by Radomir Bojancic and issued on April 3, 2003, commemorate the Council of Europe. The design is a stylized "e" and a circle of twelve stars reflecting the flag of the Council, with a map of Europe in the background.
      The name of the Republic, СРБИА И ЦРНА ГОРА, is written in Cyrillic on the 16 dinar value, and represents the Serbian alphabetic preference. On the 28.70 dinar value the same name is written in the Latin characters preferred by the Montenegrins. In both Serbia and Crna Gora (Montenegro, "Black Mountain") the official language is Serbian, although 22% of the population of Montenegro claim Ijekavian Štokavian, also a Serbian dialect, as their mother tongue. Croatian and Bosnian are also spoken in Montenegro. The united Republic is predominantly Orthodox Christian
     In 2006 The Republic will hold a referendum on independence.