| Author (Corporate) | BBC |
|---|---|
| Series Title | BBC News |
| Series Details | 7.9.08 |
| Publication Date | 07/09/2008 |
| Content Type | News |
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Split looms for Serb nationalists Tomislav Nikolic, acting leader of Serbia’s main nationalist opposition party, stepped down at the weekend amid a rift with his imprisoned party chairman over a pre-accession accord with the European Union. Mr Nikolic – who ran the hard-line Serb Radical party for six years and came close to winning Serbian presidential elections earlier this year – said he supported the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) awaiting ratification by the pro-EU government. A clear majority in parliament would accept the SAA as long as it does not mean giving up Serbia’s claim over Kosovo, the mainly ethnic Albanian territory whose leaders declared independence in February. But an outspoken Radical faction answering to Vojislav Seselj, the chairman who is on trial in The Hague for alleged 1990s war crimes, on Friday reversed Mr Nikolic’s endorsement of the accord, raising the spectre of a deep split in the nationalist camp. For now, Mr Nikolic said he would remain a member of the party, which holds 77 out of 250 seats in the assembly. Mr Seselj – if acquitted of ordering his followers to rape, murder and expel non-Serbs in the Yugoslav break up – could return before the end of this year. Aleksandar Vucic, secretary general and next in the party hierarchy looks unsure which way to turn sources close to the party say. But parliamentary elections in May saw the Radicals’ base start crumbling, as low-income voters hesitated to reject the EU’s economic advantages. A wide pro-EU coalition under the re-elected president, Boris Tadic, secured another narrow victory despite the sting to Serbs as the US and leading EU members recognised Kosovo’s independence. Nationalist-leaning parties in the last government took a beating by turning away from the EU. Vojislav Kostunica, prime minister until this year, lost voters after aligning himself with the Radicals and has practically vanished from public view. Pragmatic small-town politicians now want to make amends with the new government to secure development loans and road-building contracts, observers say. Belgrade gained credibility by arresting and extraditing Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime leader accused of genocide, in late July, EU officials say. “We should acknowledge this work by moving forward now with Serbia” on the SAA’s trade benefits, said the bloc’s enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn. But two more war crimes suspects – including Ratko Mladic, co-accused with Mr Karadzic for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre – are not yet caught. The Netherlands, holding Serbia to a strict interpretation of “full cooperation”, cannot endorse free trade until all suspects are delivered to the United Nations tribunal, Dutch officials said. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 |
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| Source Link | http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7602499.stm |
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| Countries / Regions | Serbia |
