Balkanalysis.com

By Jan Buruma*

Just before the constitutional deadline and with early elections looming, Serbia’s pro-Western parties managed to form a government.

The returning prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica has a lot of work to do, amongst others about the future status of Kosovo and cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.

At the same time, in an unusal twist, Serbia won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest- thus winning the right to host the event next year, and so to showcase their country before Europe’s largest annual televised audience.

After the elections of January 21, 2007 the pro-democratic Serbian parties managed to agree on a new government after all. President Boris Tadic’ reform-oriented DS, PM Kostunica’s moderate nationalist DSS and the liberal G17 agree on a new cabinet for the Balkan country. The DS gets most of the ministers; in exchange, Kostunica will remain head of government.

Ever since the elections there was a virtual standstill. The nationalist Serbian Radical Party The Serbian Radical Party, however,.came out of the elections as the single biggest party winner, but did not manage to find a coalition partner.

The Serbs knew all too well that an SRS-dominated government would give a bad signal to Europe. The nationalists refuse to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal. They also have called for closer ties not with the EU and NATO, but rather with Russia, the Arab countries and China.

Last but not least, they (as the other parties) oppose independence for Kosovo and consider Serbians who disagree as traitors. When SRS-leader Tomislav Nikolic was briefly elected as parliamentary speaker, to the horror of the West, a new coalition seemed impossible and early elections were dooming. May 15, 2007 was the constitutional deadline.

Tadic and Kostunica were forced to cooperate with G17 in order to prevent an SRS-led cabinet. Olli Rehn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, reacted positively: “This is a step forward for Serbia”. He immediately visited Belgrade to congratulate the new government.. Because of the new agreement, Nikolic stepped down, after having served only five days. He had managed to get the support of 142 out of 244 deputies, including the DS, moving the SRS-politician, albeit temporarily, into one of the most powerful positions in Serbia.

Tough Issues

The new Serbian government has a lot of work to do. On May 11, 2007 the Balkan country became chairman of the Council of Europe, just a few hours before the new government was presented. Many Westerners doubted that Serbia could lead the European body that, while it is without effective powers, has some clout as a monitor of human rights.

As the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly Chairman, Mr. René van der Linden quipped, “this does ring a number of alarm bells.” Six months ago, Russia became chairman and similar critical remarks were made. However, none of the 46 countries in the Council officially protested against Belgrade taking up the honorary presidency.

The most difficult topic, however, is the future status of Kosovo, which has been under UN- administration since 1999. The UN Security Council will decide soon about the future status of Kosovo.

In February, UN Special Envoy Matti Ahtisaari proposed de facto independence for the nominally Serbian Albanian-majority province, however under EU supervision. The planwas not only shot down by Belgrade, but was deemed unacceptable also by Russia. China too might block any adoption of it.

Another major issue is the future of EU membership talks for Serbia. In 2006, negotiations about closer cooperation were suspended, because Belgrade still had not arrested former Bosnian Serb leader Ratko Mladic to stand trial at the ICTY in The Hague. PM Kostunica is not seen as being particularly willing to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal.

Still, it was no coincidence that ICTY spokeswoman Olga Kavran stated that on May 15, 2007 an operation was carried out to capture Mladic in Belgrade. In fact, one of his closest associates, Zdravko Tolimir, was caught last week on the Serbian border trying to enter Bosnia and sent to the Hague.

According to the Independent, “…it is a sign that the noose is tightening around General Mladic, who is still at large. General Tolimir was very close to him and is believed to have been the mastermind behind the support network for the former Bosnian Serb army commander.”

Finally, on a slightly different note, Serbian singer Marija Serifovic’s ballad “Molitva” (‘Prayer’) won the Eurovison Song Contest on May 13, 2007. Serbs were overjoyed and greeted Serifovic and her fellow performers like royalty upon their return. “Finally Serbia is making positive headlines in the international media,” was a familiar comment made to foreign journalists. The victory was somewhat ironic in light of what happened, or didn’t happen, in last year’s Eurovision when, for the first time in contest history, a chosen country did not send an entry. Serbia and Montenegro — then still in their state union — could not agree over what song would represent them.

Aleksandar Tijanic, director of the statetelevision RTS added: “when the Song Contest will be in Belgrade in 2008, Serbia will after all be part of the modern world.” Indeed, despite the quite kitschy nature of the songs performed, it is a fact that no other event, save for the World Cup, provides such a large television audience from around the Continent. Winning countries have used their stint hosting the Eurovision Song Contest, therefore, as an opportunity for presenting visually alluring commercials advertising their countries. Serbia will thus finally get the opportunity to portray itself in a more positive light than it has since the Yugoslav wars and their aftermath.

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Jan Buruma is a Dutch freelance journalist, based in Sofia, Bulgaria. He specializes in the Balkan region, and has been coming to Southeast Europe since 1991. He is editor of the Dutch-language magazine Balkan Bulletin.