Nikolic was elected President after defeating his rival, the incumbent President Boris Tadic, in a runoff on May 20.

In his first presidential address to parliament, Nikolic said that Serbia was hard hit by the present economic crisis, citing as the main problems the "irresponsible and incompetent" privatisation that led to unemployment and poverty, as well as corruption and organised crime that caused general insecurity and undermined people's trust in the state institutions.

"The media have been placed under control and are owned by the political elite. The result is the political persecution of opponents. Even the judicial reform has been carried out in accordance with the interests and orders of the political parties. The result is the decline of the justice system in this country. Wherever you turn, there are monopolists, and citizens are paying for it," Nikolic said.

He said said he wanted a different Serbia, finally united in the fight for better living standards. "I want a Serbia free of the fear of tomorrow, a house with two doors, one to the east and one to the west. I want a Serbia that will be an equal member of the European Union, and which will never give up its sovereignty and integrity, its Kosovo and Metohija."

Nikolic said that he would not stop fighting until Serbia won the battle against organised crime and corruption, monopolies and the rule of the political elite, and until it became a democratic, law-governed state of equal citizens and with equal opportunities for all.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended, among others, by former President Boris Tadic, senior state officials, representatives of diplomatic missions and international institutions in Belgrade, academics, religious dignitaries, and presidential candidates that ran in the first round of the presidential election on May 6.

Earlier in the day, the new Serbian parliament held its inaugural session and confirmed the terms of all 250 new deputies.