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Serbia MPs approve new coalition | Serbia MPs approve new coalition |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The Serbian parliament has given its approval for the formation of a coalition government. | The Serbian parliament has given its approval for the formation of a coalition government. |
The new government will be made up of Serbia's main pro-democracy parties and led by the current acting PM, moderate nationalist Vojislav Kostunica. | |
The vote came just before a constitutional deadline, avoiding the requirement to call fresh elections. | |
Serbia's attempts to prevent independence for Kosovo is expected to be high on the government's agenda. | |
The UN has proposed a plan which would give Kosovo all the trappings of an independent state but the plan, broadly accepted by Albanians, is opposed by Serbia. | |
The province has been administered by the UN since a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 ended a Serb crackdown against ethnic Albanians, some of whom had taken up arms. | |
"Membership in the European Union is a clearly defined goal of this government," Mr Kostunica said ahead of the vote. | |
"But there will be no territorial concessions. Kosovo is a part of Serbia and it will always remain so." | |
Protest | |
Mr Kostunica said his government would also focus on co-operation with the Hague tribunal. | |
He added that other key issues for the new coalition will be tackling corruption and bringing in social and economic reforms. | |
Mr Kostunica had agreed to form a coalition with pro-Western President Boris Tadic last Friday to the relief of the West, who feared Serbia's delicate democracy would return to nationalism. | |
Parliament managed to approve the new government with 133-106 votes from the 250-seat house 30 minutes before the deadline expired. | |
But an hour before the deadline, ultra-nationalist MPs attempted to delay the vote as news emerged of a police raid in search of war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic. | |
Gen Mladic has been indicted for genocide by the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague. | |
Hardline nationalist Tomislav Nikolic said MPs had a right to know about such raids. | |
Talks on closer ties between Serbia and the European Union have been stalled because of lack of co-operation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. |
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