Serbia Prime Minister Dissolves Government

Serbia’s President and Prime Minister do not see eye to eye on the issue of Kosovo.  Several ministers in the government have also broken with Prime Minister Vojislav Kkostunica’s hard line stance against the independence of Kosovo.   To deal with this division, Kostunica has decided not to engage in further discussions with the government, instead he chose to dissolve it and called for new elections on May 11th.

According to the NY Times, “The prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, who has accused the president of forsaking Serbia’s claim to Kosovo, said earlier in the day that he could no longer govern in coalition with Mr. Tadic’s pro-Western Democratic Party. Mr. Tadic opposes Kosovo’s independence, but argues that Serbia should forge closer ties with the European Union and the United States, regardless of Kosovo’s status.”

But don’t look for much government in action between May 11th and now.  “The government will function in a reduced capacity until the elections are held,” Kostunica said.

The issue of Kosovo threatens to disrupt Serbian discussions about joining the EU.  Kostunica insists that EU nations which recognized Kosovo as an independent nation must pull back from this declaration.  EU governments that recognized Kosovo, which declared independence last month, must rescind their decisions before Serbia resumes pre-membership talks with the 27-nation bloc.