BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union officials said on Monday they were confident voters in Serbia would back pro-EU parties in a forthcoming parliamentary election after its 10-month-old coalition collapsed over the loss of Kosovo.
By David Brunnstrom and Mark John
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union officials said on Monday they were confident voters in Serbia would back pro-EU parties in a forthcoming parliamentary election after its 10-month-old coalition collapsed over the loss of Kosovo.
A majority of the EU's 27 member states have recognized the independence of the overwhelmingly Albanian territory, which seceded from Serbia last month. The EU has begun deploying a police and justice mission to help supervise the new state's institutions, causing deep anger in Belgrade.
Nationalist Serb Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica dissolved his government at the weekend after failing to force a decision suspending ties with the EU as long as its members backed Kosovo's independence. A new poll is slated for May 11.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said he hoped for a victory for pro-European parties in the poll.
"Now with the election coming, I hope that the pro-EU forces will win ... I have seen encouraging signs," he told reporters on arriving to chair a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
"To be quite frank, I don't think there is any other possibility for our Serbian friends than the European Union. Where should they go?" he added.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the EU must extend "the hand of friendship" to Serbia and External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said it was time to offer Serbs easier visa procedures and other incentives.
"What we have to do is to show the Serbian population that we want them in the European Union," she said of Commission proposals last week for an eventual phasing-out of visas, a doubling of scholarships and better EU-Serbia transport links.
TOWARDS OR AWAY FROM EUROPE?
EU officials, who openly supported the re-election of pro-Western Serbian President Boris Tadic last month, made clear they saw the poll as a chance for Serbs to tell their leaders they want to pursue EU ties despite the loss of the cherished province.
"It is an opportunity to choose the European course more firmly than they have done before," said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, just back from a visit to Kosovo.
"Were Serbia to sink down into self-isolation, it would clearly be to the detriment of the economy, of politics ... of Serbia, but also of the entire region. It would have decidedly negative effects," he said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the people of Serbia had an opportunity to choose their way forward.
"I hope very much they will continue pushing for a relationship, deep and solid, with the European Union," he said.
Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, said Serbs faced the same choice as they had made when Tadic narrowly pipped ultra-nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in February -- "towards Europe or against Europe."
The EU has initialed a so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Belgrade as a first step on the long road to membership, but has refused to sign the accord until Serbia cooperates fully to arrest war crimes indictees.
(writing by Mark John and Paul Taylor, editing by Peter Millership)
