EU calls for quick formation of new Serbian government

13/05/2008

EU officials urged Serbia on Monday to move quickly in forming a government that can accelerate on the road to European integration.

(FT, Independent, Telegraph, Blic, B92 - 13/05/08; AP, Reuters, AFP, DPA, BBC, Balkan Insight, Beta, B92 - 12/05/08)

Democratic Party supporters celebrate the victory in Sunday's (May 11th) elections. [Getty Images]

Balkan countries, the United States and the EU welcomed on Monday (May 12th) the outcome of Serbia's parliamentary elections, in which the coalition around President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party (DS) won the majority of votes.

Croatian President Stipe Mesic stressed that the victory of the For a European Serbia coalition over nationalist forces bodes well for the entire region's future.

"The election outcome also shows that we will have a neighbouring country in which a respectable number of people ... are not focused on the past," he said.

Officials in other Balkan countries, including Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo, echoed Mesic's remarks, as they hailed the outcome of Serbia's most important poll since democratic forces overthrew former President Slobodan Milosevic's regime in October 2000.

The victory of Tadic's pro-European coalition in Sunday's vote came as a surprise, as all pre-election polls had shown it trailing the ultranationalist Serb Radical Party (SRS).

The state electoral commission said on Monday that For a European Serbia won 38.44% of the vote and will occupy 102 of the 250 seats in the country's legislature. The SRS trailed with 29.36% and 77 seats.

The Tadic camp's strength pleased Western governments and senior EU officials, who also praised Serbian voters for backing European integration.

"The Serbian electorate has clearly demonstrated that its heart is in Europe," the US Embassy in Belgrade said in a statement Monday.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn joined a chorus of top diplomats of the 27-nation bloc's members in hailing the success of Tadic's camp and signalled Brussels' readiness to support Serbia's faster progress in the accession process.

"The European Commission ... welcomes the success of the reformist forces that share European values," Rehn said. "The EU is ready to accelerate its EU course -- including granting membership candidate status."

He and other EU officials called for the new cabinet to assemble quickly.

"I hope that a new government, which will be adamant in implementing reforms and meeting the necessary conditions for further progress toward Europe, will be formed soon," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday.

But, as neither Tadic's coalition nor the SRS managed to secure an outright 126-seat parliamentary majority, both seek coalition partners.

The fourth-place finisher -- a coalition led by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), formerly headed by Milosevic, which won 7.6% of the vote and will take 20 parliamentary seats -- is the perceived kingmaker.

The coalition between outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia and New Serbia, which took third with 11.59% voter support, translating into 30 seats, signalled its readiness to join an SRS-led coalition government. SRS acting leader Tomislav Nikolic met on Monday with Kostunica to discuss forming a joint cabinet. Together, with the SPS seats, they would enjoy a 127-seat majority .

Observers consider a coalition of Tadic and Kostunica impossible, as their rift over the country's EU bid deepened after the majority of EU members recognised Kosovo's independence. Thus, the president would also need the Socialists and some of the ethnic coalitions to secure a parliamentary majority. Cedomir Jovanovic's pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party, which won 5.24% of the vote and will take 13 of the seats in parliament, purportedly opposes allying with the SPS.