Serbia set for snap election as government falls

SERBIA:SERB PRESIDENT Boris Tadic is poised to call a snap general election after a government comprising his allies and those of nationalist prime minister Vojislav Kostunica collapsed due to disputes over Kosovo and ties with the European Union.

Mr Kostunica refuses to deal with Brussels until it denounces Kosovo's recent declaration of independence, while the more moderate Mr Tadic says Serbia must not let its opposition to the region's sovereignty derail its own bid for EU membership.

"The government, which does not have united policies, cannot function," Mr Kostunica said on Saturday. "That's the end of the government." When the cabinet meets today it is expected to dissolve parliament and ask Mr Tadic to call a general election for May 11th, when local elections are already scheduled.

"I respect the prime minister's decision that he is no longer able to lead the government of Serbia and when I get the government's decision, I will call an election," said Mr Tadic, who leads the pro-western Democratic Party.

"Elections are the democratic way to overcome political crises and the people are the only ones who have right to decide which is the way forward for Serbia." Mr Tadic's ministerial allies defeated Mr Kostunica's when the cabinet voted last week on whether to freeze talks on closer ties with Brussels until it rejected Kosovo's independence and scrapped plans for a 2,000-strong mission to oversee its first years of sovereignty.

Mr Kostunica has used increasingly nationalist rhetoric to attack Kosovo and EU and US backing for its independence, and he now stands with the far-right Radical party and the Socialists of former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic in opposing discussions with Brussels.

"All parties want Serbia to join the EU, but the question is how - with or without Kosovo," said Mr Kostunica. "There was no united [ cabinet] will to clearly and loudly state that Serbia can continue its path toward the EU only with Kosovo." The prime minister has tried to portray the president as being too soft on the West and too quick to accept the "loss" of a historically and culturally important part of Serbia.

In the general election, Mr Kostunica's party is expected to play the patriotic card and depict itself as the true defenders of Serb interests everywhere, including Kosovo; Mr Tadic's party, on the other hand, is likely to claim that both parties are equally opposed to a sovereign Kosovo, but differ over whether Serbia should now isolate itself from the West.

"Kosovo is of course an integral part of our country," Mr Tadic said. "I believe the issue is that the Serbian government does not have a united position over European and economic perspectives of Serbia and its citizens." Mr Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, along with the Socialists and the Radicals - who are Serbia's most popular single party - favour a closer relationship with Russia to offset a cooling of relations with Brussels and Washington.

In what was perceived as a "thank you" for Moscow's support on the issue of Kosovo, Mr Kostunica recently sold most of Serbia's state oil firm to Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom, for a price that allies of Mr Tadic called a fraction of its real value.

Kosovo Serb leaders, who refuse to accept the authority of the fledgling state's ethnic-Albanian government, bemoaned the infighting in Belgrade.

"This move just shows the irresponsibility of the political elite in Belgrade," said prominent nationalist Milan Ivanovic.

"Instead of joining ranks toward solving the most important issue - preserving Kosovo within Serbia - they seem to call for anarchy."