Serbian government is dissolved

The coalition government of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was formally dissolved today to open the way for an early parliamentary election.

The decision was taken at a brief cabinet session following Mr Kostunica's announcement on Saturday that the government could not continue in office due to deep divisions following the loss of Kosovo province.

"The government did not have a united and common policy any more," a government statement said, "and this kept it from performing its basic constitutional function, to define and lead Serbia's politics."

Mr Kostunica had failed to force a decision on suspending ties with the European Union as long as EU member states backed Kosovo's independence.

President Boris Tadic must now disband parliament and set a date for the election, probably on May 11th.

Mr Kostunica, whose party lies a distant third, quit after tacitly accusing his coalition partners, the Democrats and the G17 Plus party, of giving up on Kosovo, the 90-per cent ethnic Albanian province which seceded last month with Western backing.

Not all of the 27 EU members have recognised Kosovo, but Brussels is deploying a supervisory mission that will monitor the territory's progress as an independent state.

Mr Tadic, also the head of the Democrats, said yesterday that attempts to divide Serbs into patriots and traitors over Kosovo would backfire at the polls. A strong and stable Serbia would be in a better position to defend its interests, he added.

© 2008 ireland.com