Serbian parliament wrangling stalls EU treaty

Jul 18, 2008, 12:39 GMT

Belgrade - Serbia's parliament failed on Friday to break a three-day deadlock over a pre-membership treaty with the European Union as opposition lawmakers blocked a procedural vote.

Filibustering by hardline nationalists has kept parliament from adopting an agenda for the session that began Wednesday, foiling efforts by the pro-Western government to ratify the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) for Serbia.

Ratification is needed for Serbia to move toward the EU and Belgrade's goal of obtaining candidate status in 2009.

'The opposition is endangering the vital interests of the people with this filibustering, ' Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said Thursday.

Opposition lawmakers charge that the governing coalition is breaching parliamentary rules because it put Kosovo as the last item of the debate.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February, a move backed by the United States and most European countries but rejected by Russia and Serbia is illegal.

The opposition is also angry at the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist party for joining the national government and reneging on a deal with them to govern the capital, Belgrade.

Serbian and EU officials signed the SAA in April, just before May 11 elections that brought the current government to power.

The pact lays out political, economic and legal reforms for Serbia to bring the country in line with the EU. Brussels conditioned its approval on Belgrade's full cooperation with the UN tribunal that is seeking top Serb war criminals for trial.