Serbian new parliament is to resume its first session Tuesday as the Socialists have agreed to form a coalition government with the pro-European bloc headed by President Boris Tadic.
A new parliament speaker will be elected during the resumed session that was adjourned on June 11 when all the parties failed to form a majority bloc.
The resumption comes just a day after the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) agreed to form a coalition government with the pro-EU bloc gathered around President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party (DS).
The SPS main board on Monday passed a proposal to form a government with the DS-led coalition with an overwhelming majority of 245 in the 258-member board, party leader Ivica Dacic said.
The decision has been made quickly as, just one week ago, the SPS broke off talks with the coalition of Tomislav Nikolic's ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and the nationalist Democratic Party of Serbia and New Serbia (DSS-NS), led by outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
Dacic cited differences over the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) as well as a proposed plan to raise pensions as the cause for the breakup.
The Socialists want to join the EU while the nationalists, represented by the SRS and the DSS, oppose Serbia's further integration into the EU unless Western nations --- including the United States and most EU member states who immediately recognized Kosovo's unilateral independence on Feb. 17 --- annul their claims.
The pro-EU bloc, despite its opposition to Kosovo's independence, favors a speedy integration into the EU as it believes EU membership would help Serbia in the fight for maintaining Kosovo.
The move ended six weeks of talks following the May 11 election from which neither democrats nor nationalists were able to win a 126-seat majority of the 250-seat parliament to form a new government.
The pro-EU coalition "For a European Serbia," headed by President Tadic, came first with 102 seats in the election, while SRS and DSS-NS came second and third, with 78 seats and 30 seats respectively.
Since then, they have been competing for support from late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's SPS, which won 20 seats in the new parliament.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article