SERBIA:SERBIA'S PARLIAMENT was poised last night to approve Mirko Cvetkovic as the country's new prime minister, at the head of an unwieldy coalition comprising liberals from the Democratic Party and their erstwhile Socialist enemies, writes DANIEL McLAUGHLIN.
Democrat leader and Serb president Boris Tadic forged the coalition to keep ultranationalists out of office, and in the stated belief that the Socialists have shed their own nationalist excesses, as personified by party founder and former president Slobodan Milosevic, whom the Democrats ousted and sent to the UN war crimes court at The Hague.
In an address to parliament before last night's scheduled vote on his candidacy, Mr Cvetkovic, a Democrat, combined bold pledges to reform the economy and move towards EU membership with defiance over Kosovo and a curt nod towards the UN tribunal.
"Our plan is that at the end of this government's mandate Serbia will be ready to get into the EU," he said.
"Joining the EU would enable Serbia to become a fully-fledged member of the European family of nations, from which Serbia has been excluded for a long time due to certain unfortunate historical circumstances."
Mr Cvetkovic said a government priority was to ask parliament to ratify a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU - a key step towards eventual accession.
Disagreement over the SAA helped to bring down the last government, after the Democrats insisted on signing it but their nationalist partners refused, saying Serbia should not make a deal with the EU until it reversed its support for Kosovo's independence.
The Socialists agreed to sign the SAA, but Mr Cvetkovic underlined that the new coalition was unanimous in its refusal to recognise Kosovo's sovereignty.
"The new government of the republic of Serbia will never recognise the independence of Kosovo and . . . will undertake all legal and diplomatic measures to preserve Kosovo as an integral part of the republic of Serbia," the former economy minister said.
The EU has told Serbia that it must comply fully with the UN war crimes court before it joins the bloc, but three suspects are still at large - Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and Goran Hadzic.
While the Democrats pledge full co-operation, the Socialists refuse to recognise the authority of the court, creating potential for friction.
Mr Cvetkovic said only that Belgrade would "continue to pursue a policy of strict observance of international law and prompt compliance with all international obligations".