Word: kostunica
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This was in stark contrast with the mood in Belgrade which was, at best, gloomy, as most Serbs see Kosovo as their historic heartland. Minutes after Thaci finished reading the declaration in Pristina, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica addressed the nation in Belgrade, declaring Kosvo's independence "null and void." "Kosovo's unilateral declaration of a false state is the final act of a policy that started with the NATO aggression against Serbia in 1999," the Prime Minister said in a televised speech spiked with harsh anti-Western sentiments. Most of Kostunica's anger was directed towards the United States...
...Kostunica, whose constitutional power as Prime Minister is stronger than the President's, also announced that he would freeze the membership talks with the E.U. if it sends a supervising mission to Kosovo to replace the current U.N. administration without the U.N. Security Council's approval. Russia, which supports Serbia's opposition to Kosovo's independence, is also opposed to the switch. The E.U. is in the final stages of planning its mission in Kosovo, although the date has not yet been...
...Kostunica's refusal to endorse Tadic and differences concerning relations with Russia and the E.U. has already put a serious strain on the ruling coalition, and most analysts agree that Serbia is heading towards early parliamentary elections this spring. "The coalition whose members can't agree about the country's basic policy has lost its meaning," says Miodrag Zec, an economic expert from Belgrade University. "We should have parliamentary elections in May, if not earlier...
...Tadic's Democratic Party has an uneasy power-sharing deal with the Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate nationalist. Kostunica refused to support Tadic during the campaign, and shares many of Nikolic's pro-Russian sentiments. In January, Kostunica signed a much criticized privatization deal in Moscow, allowing Russia's oil giant Gazprom to assume full control over Serbia's oil and gas industry for just under $700 million. Tadic was skeptical about the deal - experts and even some government ministers felt it was too lenient towards Gazprom - but he stopped short of openly opposing...
Even if Nikolic wins the runoff, he will not be able to change Serbian politics dramatically or immediately. Kostunica and his moderate nationalism are likely to hold sway even if he and Tadic decide to call it quits. Kostunica's parliamentary bloc, while numerically small, is an essential ally to any larger party seeking to form a ruling coalition. Meanwhile, parliamentary elections are not scheduled until January 2011. "The government would probably survive, at least for a while, even with Nikolic as President", Svilanovic explains. "But Serbia's road towards the E.U. membership would certainly become much more complicated...