Serbia's Kostunica Refuses to Endorse Tadic for Re-Election
By VOA News
30 January 2008
Boris Tadic (file photo)
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has announced that he will not
support reformist President Boris Tadic in Sunday's run-off presidential
election.
Mr. Tadic is in a tight race with ultranationalist Radical Party candidate
Tomislav Nikolic. The prime minister suggested that each citizen decide on
his own how to vote.
Mr. Kostunica's announcement follows the president's rejection of his
demands that Mr. Tadic commit himself to rejecting any accord on improved
ties with the European Union, if an EU police and security mission is
dispatched to Kosovo.
EU leaders agreed last month to dispatch the mission to replace United
Nations administrators running the breakaway Serbian province, as its ethnic
Albanian majority prepares to declare the area's independence.
Vojislav Kostunica (File)
Mr. Kostunica has insisted that dispatch of any mission requires U.N.
Security Council approval.
Meanwhile, European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini met in
Belgrade with top Serbian officials for talks on a plan to grant visa-free
travel for Serbian citizens to the 27 EU member states.
The talks follow a decision by EU foreign ministers on Monday to offer
Serbia an accord on opening trade and ending visa restrictions without
signing a full agreement on building ties with that country.
Most EU ministers backed signing the full agreement, but the Netherlands
blocked the effort because of Serbia's failure to fully cooperate with the
U.N. tribunal on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
