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EU: Milosevic party acceptable as partner in new Serbian Cabinet SLOBODAN LEKICAssociated Press Writer Released : Tuesday, May 13, 2008 8:05 AM BRUSSELS, Belgium-A top European Union official said Tuesday that most Serbs have voted for closer ties with the EU and urged Belgrade to quickly form a new pro-Western government. But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also suggested the EU would not object if a governing coalition included the Socialist Party of former strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a party that, until now, the European Union has kept at arm's length. It is difficult to deny "that the majority of the Serbian people have shown in elections they want ... to get closer to the European Union," Solana said. A pro-western government would help Serbia move quickly toward EU membership, he added. In elections Sunday, President Boris Tadic's Coalition for a European Serbia emerged as the largest bloc in the new Parliament. But it still lacks a majority in the 250-seat legislature. Analysts in Serbia say Tadic will need to include the Socialists in a coalition Cabinet if he wants to prevent a grouping of nationalist parties opposed to EU membership from taking office. The Socialist Party has been blamed for backing Milosevic in a series of bloody wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. They garnered only 20 seats in Sunday's ballot, but their support is crucial for either Tadic's pro-Western bloc or the nationalists. The Socialists have not said yet which side they will support. Milosevic died in 2006 while on trial for genocide. Until now, the EU has largely shunned contacts with Socialists, treating them as a pariah group. "I think that they need to work for a coalition," Solana told journalists in Brussels, when asked if the EU would oppose Socialist participation in a new government. "We would like for the coalition to be stable in order to move as fast as possible in the development of (ties with the EU)," Solana said. Both Tadic and the nationalists said they would open negotiations with the Socialists. Their leader, Ivica Dacic, has left the door open for discussions with Tadic. The pro-Western coalition's surprisingly strong showing came just three months after protesters outraged by Kosovo's Feb. 17 declaration of independence from Serbia set fire to the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade. That anger had stoked expectations of an electoral backlash and a nationalist victory. But analysts say voters apparently were more concerned about living standards than bruised national pride. __._,_.___
