Outgoing Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica on Tuesday refused to accept a key pre-accession agreement, which was signed by his political rival and the EU representatives.
The signature of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between Serbia and the EU "is an anti-Constitutional and anti-state act and is consequently also illegal and absolutely illegitimate," Kostunica said in a statement, as quoted by the official Tanjug news agency.
Kostunica said the SAA would be immediately annulled when a new parliament convenes after the May 11 general elections.
On Tuesday afternoon, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the current EU presidency, signed the SAA in Luxembourg with Bozidar Djelic, Serbia's deputy prime minister for European integration, and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.
Djelic is a leading official of the Democratic Party led by Serbian President Boris Tadic, who also attended the signing ceremony.
The split between nationalist Kostunica and pro-Western Tadic over Kosovo and the country's EU bid led to the collapse of the coalition government last month and early elections.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February with the strong backing from major EU countries.
The EU's decision to sign the SAA with Serbia is seen as an attempt to strengthen the pro-Western camp in Serbia ahead of the early elections in May, when pro-European parties led by Tadic will face strong challenge from Serbia's nationalist parties, which were angered by EU-sponsored Kosovo independence.
Kostunica believes that the signing of the SAA amounted to indirect recognition of Kosovo's independence, which Serbia would never accept.
"We will never allow anybody to sign for the independence of Kosovo in the name of Serbia and that is why today's signature is not worth anything," said Kostunica.
The signing of the SAA had been delayed over Serbia's failure to arrest and hand over war crimes indictees such as wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic.
Under a compromise proposed earlier by the Netherlands and Belgium, the EU agreed to sign the SAA, which is expected to boost trade and economic ties between the EU and Serbia, but the implementation of the agreement still hinges on whether Belgrade fully cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Source:Xinhua
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