Deadlock in Serbia: Power Struggle in Belgrade Puts EU Plans on Ice (original) (raw)

Thursday was supposed to be the day that Serbia officially started on the path to membership of the European Union. Instead it is likely to see more bickering between Serbia's coalition parties, particularly nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and pro-Western President Boris Tadic. It looks like the collapse of the Serbian government is just a question of time.

On Wednesday Kostunica blocked a cabinet meeting that would have approved the signing of a pre-membership pact with the EU scheduled for Thursday. In turn President Tadic, who wasre-elected just a few days ago , is blocking a meeting of parliament where the nationalists had planned to reject the deal.

"The parliament (cannot) replace the government of Serbia," Tadic said in a statement Wednesday and called on the prime minister to call a session of the cabinet.

Kostunica, who accuses Tadic of destabilizing the country, rejects the EU deal as a sweetener intended to lure Belgrade into accepting an EU mission in the breakaway province of Kosovo. Earlier this week he said he regarded the deal on trade, visas and education as a"hoax," and on Wednesday he announced: "I'm convinced that every citizen of Serbia sees this as arrogant blackmail by the EU and that Serbia's signature … would be a signature for Kosovo independence."

Kostunica feverently opposes the EU plans for a 1,800-strong police and civil administration mission to Kosovo, the Serbian province which has been under United Nations administration since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign ended Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansing program against the Kosovo-Albanians. The province is expected to declare independence in the coming days or weeks, a move that the United States and most EU member states back.

While both Tadic and Kostunica have vowed that they will not accept an independent Kosovo, the president does not want to link the issue with Serbia's bid for EU membership, while the prime minister sees the mission as opening the way to independence. Kostunica seems to want to force Brussels to choose between a presence in Kosovo and pursuing closer ties with Belgrade.

The European Commission has slammed Kostunica's "obstruction." On Wednesday, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said: "It is … sad for Serbia if politicians continue to put power games ahead of their own citizens' interests." He pointed out that Serbs had already made their choice when they voted for Tadic in Sunday's run-off against ultra-nationalist Tomislav Nikolic. Tellingly Kostunica, whose conservative Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) is the junior party in the coalition with Tadic's Democratic Party (DS), did not back the president in the final round.

The split between the two parties makes it look increasingly likely that this fragile coalition will soon fall apart. If that happens, Kostunica may try to bring down the government and force new parliamentary elections, or he may try to form a new coalition with the Nikolic's ultra-national Radicals.