EU deal inflames Serbian political tension

Apr 29, 2008, 13:42 GMT

Belgrade - Serb nationalist parties Tuesday denounced pro- European politicians as traitors after they accepted a European Union deal to draw closer to the EU, less than two weeks before elections in the Balkan country.

Vicious rhetoric focused on President Boris Tadic, who travelled to Luxembourg for the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU.

Caretaker Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's party said it would seek to revoke Serbia's signature in the new parliament being elected May 11.

'Serbia will never accept the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, and the new government and the new parliament will annul it', Kostunica's Serbian Democratic Party (DSS) said.

'Tadic is putting a Judas stamp on (EU foreign policy chief Javier) Solana's agreement', the DSS statement said.

Kostunica, who could be the kingmaker of the next government, said earlier that by signing the SAA, Serbia would recognize Kosovo's independence.

He also accused EU of trying to create a new state on Serbian territory by sending its mission to Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in February.

The ultranationalist Radical Party, running neck-and-neck with Tadic's pro-European party in polls, said Tadic will 'answer for breaching Serbia's constitution and betraying Serbia'.

'The new parliament will start a procedure of replacing Tadic,' said Dragan Todorovic, the party's deputy head.

Under Monday's deal, the EU-Serbian agreement will take effect only once Belgrade shows full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

EU supporters welcomed the SAA as an opportunity for a better future, easier travelling and a stronger economy.

'The benefits of European integration will affect everyone, and the EU's call to Serbia to sign the SAA shows that our society can move faster toward the EU,' said a spokesman of the G17 party from Tadic's pro-European bloc

But Tadic said he would tell EU officials that Serbia will never recognize independent Kosovo.

Serbia's early parliamentary elections are widely seen as a choice between EU path or return to the isolation and poverty of the 1990s.

As Serbia reels from the loss of its province Kosovo and wavers between EU, Russia and even self-imposed isolation, a murky election outcome would surely be followed by months of negotiations, political trading and blackmail.

It would also cement Serbia's turn away from the EU membership bid, which Kostunica blocked in January over Western support of Kosovo's independence.