New Serbian prime minister extends olive branch to West
Source: Agencies |
July 28, 2012, Saturday
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THE former spokesman of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic took power in Serbia yesterday, telling Europe and the Balkans to forget the past and not fear the return of a political alliance that once led the country to war with NATO.
After 12 hours of heated debate, lawmakers in the 250-seat Serbian parliament voted 142 to 72 to endorse Socialist Party leader Ivica Dacic as prime minister at the helm of a coalition with nationalists.
The alliance condemns to the opposition benches the main reformers who ousted Milosevic in 2000, raising concern in the West that Serbia might veer from the path they took toward joining the European Union.
Dacic said EU membership was "a key goal," but he would not be made to answer for Serbia's dark past.
"If they say the word Balkan means 'blood and honey,' there's been enough blood, it's time to feel the taste of honey too," the career politician told the assembly during a debate.
"Serbia is offering the hand of reconciliation, to all. Let's not deal anymore with the past, let's deal with the future."
The West is closely scrutinizing Dacic's ascent to the most powerful post in Serbia - in alliance with President Tomislav Nikolic's nationalists - for any sign the country may drift from the EU path chosen by the seven states carved from old federal Yugoslavia.
Nikolic and the Socialists last shared power at the close of Milosevic's 13-year rule, when his forces expelled almost 1 million ethnic Albanians from Kosovo and NATO bombed in 1999 to wrest the province from him.
Dacic, 46, was Milosevic's spokesman. He now says Serbia's future is in the EU, but Western diplomats admit to doubts over whether he is willing and able to carry out the political and economic reforms it will take.
"A key goal of this government will be the acceleration of European integration and maximum effort to secure a date for the start of accession talks," Dacic said.
His government inherits an economy sliding into recession, a jobless rate of 25 percent and a shrinking, aging population scraping by on an average net monthly wage of 340 euros (US$420).
The West says Serbia's progress toward EU membership rests on it coming to terms with the loss of Kosovo, an impoverished territory steeped in history and myth for many Serbs but recognized by almost half the world as independent.
After 12 hours of heated debate, lawmakers in the 250-seat Serbian parliament voted 142 to 72 to endorse Socialist Party leader Ivica Dacic as prime minister at the helm of a coalition with nationalists.
The alliance condemns to the opposition benches the main reformers who ousted Milosevic in 2000, raising concern in the West that Serbia might veer from the path they took toward joining the European Union.
Dacic said EU membership was "a key goal," but he would not be made to answer for Serbia's dark past.
"If they say the word Balkan means 'blood and honey,' there's been enough blood, it's time to feel the taste of honey too," the career politician told the assembly during a debate.
"Serbia is offering the hand of reconciliation, to all. Let's not deal anymore with the past, let's deal with the future."
The West is closely scrutinizing Dacic's ascent to the most powerful post in Serbia - in alliance with President Tomislav Nikolic's nationalists - for any sign the country may drift from the EU path chosen by the seven states carved from old federal Yugoslavia.
Nikolic and the Socialists last shared power at the close of Milosevic's 13-year rule, when his forces expelled almost 1 million ethnic Albanians from Kosovo and NATO bombed in 1999 to wrest the province from him.
Dacic, 46, was Milosevic's spokesman. He now says Serbia's future is in the EU, but Western diplomats admit to doubts over whether he is willing and able to carry out the political and economic reforms it will take.
"A key goal of this government will be the acceleration of European integration and maximum effort to secure a date for the start of accession talks," Dacic said.
His government inherits an economy sliding into recession, a jobless rate of 25 percent and a shrinking, aging population scraping by on an average net monthly wage of 340 euros (US$420).
The West says Serbia's progress toward EU membership rests on it coming to terms with the loss of Kosovo, an impoverished territory steeped in history and myth for many Serbs but recognized by almost half the world as independent.
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