SETimes.comThree Serbian nationalist parties sign co-operation deal
05/11/2008
The Democratic Party of Serbia formed an alliance with two smaller parties Tuesday in a bid to bolster the nationalist opposition's clout.
(Blic, EMportal - 05/11/08; B92, Tanjug, EMportal, Sofia Echo - 04/11/08; Beta - 03/11/08)
Former Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) formed an alliance with two other nationalist parties on Tuesday (November 4th), a day after announcing its plans to challenge the government over Kosovo.
DSS spokesman Andreja Mladenovic said his party's decision to join forces with the New Serbia Party (NS) and National Party (NP) arose from "a wish to bring change to Serbia as soon as possible and to establish a new government". A cabinet led by that new alliance would "pursue a responsible national and state policy in the interests of all Serbia's citizens", he added.
Kostunica resigned as prime minister in March over disagreements with coalition partners from President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party (DS) on whether Serbia should continue to seek EU integration after the majority of the bloc's 27 member states recognised Kosovo's independence.
The DSS and the NS, headed by former Infrastructure Minister Velimir Ilic, won a combined 30 seats in the 250-member parliament in the early elections on May 11th.
The NP's leader is former Novi Sad Mayor Maja Gojkovic, who formed her party earlier this year after leaving the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party. Her party has no seats in parliament.
Kostunica said on Monday he would seek other parliament-represented opposition parties' support for a no-confidence motion against the government over Kosovo.
"The current authorities have ... [been] negotiating secretly and behind the parliament's back about recognising the EULEX mission for implementing the independence of Kosovo," Kostunica said. "The government is ... seeking a way to convince citizens, in actuality to deceive them, that… EULEX is allegedly status-neutral."
Slobodan Samardzic, who served as minister for Kosovo in Kostunica's second government, said on Tuesday the DSS, the NS and the SRS parliamentary groups have submitted a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic's government. Serbia is "tired" of such a government, Ilic was quoted as saying.
"We want to create a Serbia on the basis of enduring democratic principles and national values, open for domestic and foreign investment, a Serbia where the people will live free of political tension, with a full feeling of security for themselves, their families, their jobs, property and investments," Mladenovic said on Tuesday.
A report Tuesday by the Tanjug news agency suggested that Tomislav Nikolic's Serbian Progressive Party would support a debate on a confidence vote challenging Cvetkovic's government. But no one had sought his party's backing, he said.
Gojkovic believes Serbia could see snap elections in 2009.
Recent polls suggest, however, the DSS, the NS and the NP could all have difficulties surpassing the 5% threshold for entering parliament if elections occurred today.