http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020601233.html
Battle over EU, Kosovo paralyses Serbian government
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By Douglas Hamilton
Reuters
Wednesday, February 6, 2008; 7:25 AM
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia was politically paralyzed on Wednesday over an
invitation from the European Union to sign a pact that nationalists say is
simply a trap to get the government to concede the independence of Kosovo.
The coalition of nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was on the verge
of collapse over the offer, a one-of-a-kind deal tendered as a sweetener to
Serbia because EU members cannot agree to offer it a full pre-membership
accord.
A last-minute decision by the EU to postpone the signing ceremony scheduled for
Thursday looked unlikely to heal the fundamental rift this has exposed over
Serbia's central objective -- preservation of Kosovo or EU membership.
One nationalist minister warned pro-EU Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic he
would be a "traitor" if he signed such a deal.
Kostunica has not appeared in public since his pro-EU coalition partner and
rival, President Boris Tadic, won re-election at the weekend by a margin so
narrow it underlined the deep split in Serbia's electorate.
He has issued two statements, one on Monday saying the EU "political agreement"
was a trap that Serbia would never sign, and a second on Wednesday saying
parliament must meet to quell political disunity.
But the speaker of parliament, Oliver Dulic, says the national assembly will
not take up the issue until there is a clear government position to debate.
Kostunica has cancelled cabinet's regular Thursday session despite demands by a
majority of ministers for an urgent meeting.
SECOND FIDDLE
"This is an exceptionally serious situation, the government is in paralysis,"
said Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic of Tadic's Democratic Party, a few hours
before the EU announced it would, "with deep regret," hold off on signing the
pact.
The EU is to send a supervisory mission to Kosovo ahead of its independence
declaration in the coming weeks. Kostunica says concluding a political accord
now that does not guarantee Serbian sovereignty would mean conceding Kosovo's
secession.
Tadic was re-elected on a pledge of pursuing EU membership no matter what
happens with Kosovo, and has made clear he will not back down after months of
playing second fiddle to Kostunica and his drive to make Kosovo Serbia's one
and only issue.
The EU wanted to sign the accord -- focusing on trade, visa and education
issues -- in the hope of preventing a nationalist backlash over Kosovo,
Serbia's medieval heartland and now home to a 90-percent Albanian population.
Kostunica wants to bring the issue to parliament where he can rely on the votes
of the nationalist Radicals, Serbia's strongest single party, to back his case
in a showdown over the country's future direction.
A draft resolution put forward by his Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) said
"the parliament orders the government" not to sign the interim political
agreement as long as the EU insists on sending its mission to Kosovo.
(Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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