Serbia's Socialist Party will join an alliance headed by the Democratic Party to form a pro-European coalition government, Socialist leader Ivica Dacic said today.
Although details on the final division of posts and functions in the cabinet have yet to be agreed, the move signals the formation of a government that will aim to speed up Serbia's European Union membership bid after years of halting progress.
The news will come as a relief to Western capitals keen to see Serbia take its place firmly in the European mainstream after years of aggression, defiance and instability.
"The main board supported with a majority of votes the formation of a government with the pro-European alliance," Serbia's state news agency quoted Mr Dacic as saying after a meeting of his party's senior officials.
Western worries intensified in the weeks after the May 11th election, which the Democrats won but without clinching the 126-deputy majority needed in the 250-seat parliament.
The nationalist Radicals and the DSS of outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica came second and third and joined forces, brought together by their virulent opposition to EU membership until the bloc stops backing Kosovo's independence.
The Albanian majority in the former southern province, Serbia's medieval heartland, declared independence in February with the EU's blessing.
In almost a month of talks, the nationalists tried to lure the Socialists, but they underestimated the Socialists' desire for rehabilitation after having been blamed for the wars, isolation and poverty caused by Milosevic's aggressive nationalism in the 1990s.
The party eventually refused to freeze Serbia's EU bid, arguing that the resulting economic progress is key to the generous social policy they promised their voters, and talks with the nationalists collapsed.
"I know this decision will not be understood by part of our electorate," Mr Dacic said, "but this is a big comeback for the Socialists and an opportunity for a new start."