Serbs elect to walk the European Union path

Narrow victory for Boris Tadic puts pressure on split government

Supporters of the pro-European reformist Boris Tadic celebrate his victory over Tomislav Nikolic in central Belgrade late on Sunday night.

By David Vujanovic - Agence France-Presse

BELGRADE - The narrow re-election victory of Serbia's pro-West president, Boris Tadic, drew EU applause yesterday but piled pressure on an unstable government in Belgrade as Kosovo prepares to declare independence.

In a result likely to nudge Serbia closer to integration with the European Union, the electoral commission gave Tadic 50.6 percent of Sunday's vote against 47.7 percent for pro-Russian ultra-nationalist Tomislav Nikolic.

The biggest loser was conservative nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, whose party is the weaker partner in an uneasy ruling coalition with Tadic's Democratic Party. Kostunica had refused to endorse Tadic in the election because the president would not take a tougher line against EU support for Kosovo's decision to breakaway from Serbia.

«Serbia chose the path toward the European Union. The stability of the government will now be tested,» said the newspaper Blic after a night of wild celebrations by Tadic supporters in downtown Belgrade. The government, said Blic, could collapse in the coming days if Kostunica continued to block the signing of a deal the EU offered Serbia on political dialogue, free trade, visa liberalization and educational cooperation.

Kostunica had demanded Tadic oppose the signing, due Thursday, unless Brussels renounced plans to send an EU mission to ethnic-Albanian-majority Kosovo, which is planning to declare independence within days.

EU nations yesterday gave the green light for the mission without setting a launch date, diplomatic sources in Brussels said. «We can expect major changes in Serbia's political life» after Tadic's victory, said analyst Vladimir Goati, of non-governmental organization Transparency Serbia. «The coalition government will be in trouble. The question is how long the prime minister will be able to survive,» Goati said.

Along with Germany and France, Tadic's re-election was also welcomed by the United States, which said it would seek to build a «productive relationship» that would help Serbia along the «path to European integration.» Both Tadic and Nikolic had opposed independence for Kosovo, which many Serbs view as the cradle of their culture. Tadic however said the issue must not divert the Balkan republic from EU integration.

In a bitterly fought campaign, Nikolic had sought votes from Serbs disillusioned with the slow transition from years of economic mismanagement while Tadic promised youths EU-backed prosperity.

The head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jean Lemierre said meanwhile that Tadic's win could give Serbia an economic boost.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia is prepared to cooperate with Serbia's re-elected pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, influential lawmakers close to the Kremlin said yesterday, although other political leaders decried what they called a defeat for Moscow.

«Russia is ready to work with absolutely any president of Serbia who is supported by the population of this country,» said Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the lower house of parliament's international affairs committee, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Kosachyov, who is a senior member of the ruling United Russia party and considered close to the Kremlin, said Tadic was capable of «more flexible stands and compromise» than his defeated pro-Moscow rival Tomislav Nikolic.

Sergei Mironov, speaker of the upper house and an ally of President Vladimir Putin, told Interfax news agency that he was «sure that our friendly relations between Russia and Serbia will continue under the newly re-elected president.»

However, ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who is running in Russia's March 2 presidential election, said that «Tadic's victory is to a great extent a defeat for Russia, a bad result for both Serbia and Russia,» Interfax news agency reported. «We will lose yet another ally in the Balkans,» Zhirinovsky said.