Withdrawal of Serbian coalition partner could trigger elections

SERBIA: A key liberal party withdrew from Serbia's coalition government yesterday, increasing the likelihood of early elections at which nationalists are expected to perform strongly.

The G17 Plus party, which held the posts of deputy prime minister and three cabinet ministers, left the government over its failure to catch war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic and to resume talks with the EU.

The EU suspended negotiations on closer ties with Belgrade in May, after accusing the government of doing too little to find the former Bosnian Serb general, who is sought for his alleged leading role in a 1995 massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica.

Brussels said on Friday that there was no progress on finding Gen Mladic, despite government pledges to send him to the UN court at The Hague.

G17 Plus has long threatened to quit the government if talks with the EU did not restart by October 1st. "For G17 Plus it is a big disappointment that talks with the European Union have not resumed and that co-operation with The Hague tribunal has not been completed," said finance minister and leader of G17 Plus Mladjan Dinkic. "Our resignations are a form of pressure to make sure that elections are held by December 17th."

Nationalist parties loyal to the memory of Serbia's former president, Slobodan Milosevic, are expected to fare well in the poll, by tapping into widespread anger at plans by the international community to award Kosovo some sort of independence this year.

The government sought to strengthen its own patriotic credentials on Saturday by backing a new constitution that declares UN-run Kosovo an inalienable part of Serbia, regardless of the independence claims of its ethnic-Albanian majority.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said the new constitution would "cement the truth that Kosovo always has been, and always will be, an integral part of Serbia". Serbs will be asked to approve the constitution in a referendum on October 28th/29th.

Mr Dinkic said G17 Plus would "actively participate in adopting the new constitution and then prepare for elections". Though still officially part of Serbia, Belgrade has had no authority over Kosovo since Nato bombing forced it to end a crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.

Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian deputy prime minister, Lutfi Haziri, called Serbia's proposed constitution "a threat and a provocation . . . which will become an obstacle to future normalisation of relations between Serbia and an independent Kosovo."