Serbia's president dissolved parliament on Thursday and called an early election, one that will determine whether this Balkan country heads toward the European Union and other Western groups, or returns to its isolationist past. Serbia's government collapsed last weekend following a rift with nationalists over Kosovo's independence and Serbia's EU integration. President Boris Tadic said in a statement that the early parliamentary vote will be held on May 11. “Elections are a democratic way for the citizens to determine how Serbia should develop in the years to come,” he said. Tadic added that the vote will be a “new chance to strengthen ... the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country, to strengthen our economic perspective through European integration ... and change things for the better.” The election is considered crucial for Serbia because it will determine whether it aligns itself with Western groups such as the EU, or returns to the isolationist past of the 1990s, the era of the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic. “Once again, Serbia is to choose on whether to move forward or go backward,” said Dragan Bujosevic, a political analyst of independent NIN weekly. Last month, Tadic narrowly defeated an ultranationalist former ally of Milosevic in a presidential vote seen as a referendum on the country's membership in the EU. However, the ultranationalist Radicals - the largest group in the dissolved parliament - said they could team up with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica in the upcoming vote to forge a majority for the next Serbian government. On Saturday, Kostunica dissolved his government, saying his conservatives could not function in the Cabinet alongside the president's pro-Western Democrats because of their insistence on pursuing EU membership, even though 18 of the bloc's 27 nations have recognized Kosovo's independence. Kostunica insists Serbia must not join the EU unless the bloc confirms Kosovo is part of the country. Tadic refuses to tie the Kosovo issue to Serbia's EU future, saying membership would put Serbia in better position to assert its rights over Kosovo on the international stage. Kostunica said in a statement Thursday that the important May 11 election could lead “to the formation a nationally responsible government which would be able to fight for the preservation of Kosovo” within Serbia's borders. Predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Feb. 17. Kosovo had been under UN control since 1999, when NATO used an air war to stop Serbia's crackdown on separatists in the territory. Serbia, which considers Kosovo its historic and religious heartland, has rejected Kosovo's independence as illegal under international law. Serbia has the backing of Russia and China in the U.N. Security Council. Tadic called for the pro-election campaign to be “fair and correct,” but his Democratic Party officials already clashed with Kostunica's allies over the new vote. “All those who vote on May 11 for (Kostunica's) party have to be aware that they are actually voting for the ultranationalists,” said Dragan Djilas, a Tadic's party official. Aleksandar Popovic, a Kostunica ally, said Djilas was “underestimating the intelligence” of Kostunica's voters. “By voting for our list, the citizens vote for the people who can tell anyone, including the EU, where are Serbia's borders,” said Popovic. __
