Serbian government falls over Kosovo-EU policy

The government asked President Boris Tadic to dissolve Serbia's parliament and call for early parliamentary elections on May 11 due to the fact that "it no longer has a united and common policy", a statement from the Monday session said.

On Saturday, Kostunica said "the government of Serbia has no united policy anymore on an important issue related to the future of the country: Kosovo as a part of Serbia."

"Such a government could not function anymore," he added. "This is the end of the government, and we should return the mandate to the people."

The latest rift was caused by the proposal of the opposition Serb Radical Party - the strongest single party in the Serbian parliament - to adopt a parliamentary resolution which would say that Serbia can become a member of the EU only as whole, with Kosovo as its province.

The DSS has accepted the proposal, but the DS and the G17 have refused, arguing Serbia could only defend its interests in Kosovo through European integration and EU membership.

The DSS and the SRS said they were only applying the Serbian Constitution and the previous resolutions adopted by the Serbian parliament, while the DS has blamed the Radicals of wanting to stop the European integrations of Serbia.

All political parties, except the Socialist Party of Serbia, welcomed the decision to go to polls and said the decision was the best outcome to the crisis caused by Pristina's unilateral secession and subsequent Western recognition of the move.

Serbian Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic said that "loyal Serbian citizens in Kosovo have no particular reason to worry" after the collapse of the government and the call for early elections in May.

"The ministries will continue to implement the state policy based on the Serbian constitution, parliamentary resolutions in force and adopted action plans," Samardzic added.

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