Serbian Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardzic on Thursday called the political and economic deal offered to Serbia by the European Union "one great big nothing" and "void of any content," thus widening rifts within Serbia's fragile cabinet, according to dpa. Serbia's political elite continued a stalemate in which pro- European parties with more seats in the government are clashing with the parliament's nationalist majority, blocking one another from making moves on a broad cooperation deal offered by the EU. Controlling the situation is Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who formed a ruling coalition with pro-European President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party (DS), but is closer politically to the strong opposition of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS). The issue dividing the government is Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo and its future status in relation to Serbia's European integration plans. Samardzic, a top official in Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), said the EU offered the deal to soften the blow of sending a mission to Kosovo for implementing a plan of internationally-supervised independence outlined by a UN envoy in early 2007. Kosovo's leadership and 90 per cent of the ethnic Albanian majority could unilaterally proclaim independence within a matter of days or weeks, with the United States and most of the EU's more prominent countries already saying they would recognize Kosovo's sovereignty. Tadic's argument is that the EU deal does not mention Kosovo within its text, maintaining the stance his recent election success was built on - that Serbia can have a European future and legally defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty over Kosovo without one issue compromising the other. EU officials have postponed the signing, which was scheduled for Thursday, with Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn attacking Kostunica for holding partisan interests above the interest of the Serbian people, 70 per cent of which want Serbia to join the EU. The deal aimed to help Serbia accelerate on its path to EU, ease travel restrictions for Serbs and offer funds for educating Serbian students in other EU member states. The DSS has warned the government would collapse if Tadic continued to insist on signing the EU agreement, which would either lead to new parliamentary elections or a less-likely coalition between Kostunica's party and the ultra-nationalist Radical party.
