There is an interesting article in Balkans Today about how the Serbian government is now functioning.

The report states that no fewer than 421 of a total of 597 formal cabinet meetings have taken place by telephone since July 2008. Moreover, the report states that these ‘incorporeal’ meetings have decided important matters relating to the recent state of emergency because of the bad weather, negotiations with the IMF, changes to criminal law and so on.

I am sure that ‘incorporeal’ cabinet meetings exist elsewhere, as I remember reading an article about then in the context of the Irish government. However, the figure quoted in the article seems high.

That said, if the time period is July 2008 to the end of December 2011, then that is 42 months. This means there have been 176 corporeal meetings over this period, or just over four a month, or just over one a week, i.e. a pretty normal and regular schedule.

So, whereas the article gives the impression that telephone meetings are replacing corporeal meetings, this impression may be a little misleading.