Jun 27, 2008, 19:50 GMT
Belgrade - President Boris Tadic on Friday designated outgoing finance minister Mirko Cvetkovic to head the new Serbian government, with the priority task of reviving the troubled country's ties with the European Union.
Cvetkovic, 58, would run a cabinet backed by the coalition of Tadic's pro-European Democratic Party (DS) and the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party (SPS), as well as Muslim and Hungarian minority representatives, Tadic's cabinet said.
The coalition deal of DS, SPS and minority representatives was yet to be finalized and signed, prolonging the confusion over who would form the ruling coalition since the May 11 snap poll.
The law on the government and ministries, which formalizes the structure of the cabinet, is due in the parliament on Monday and the new prime minister may be promoted later next week.
The tight and potentially fragile coalition of DS and SPS was the pro-European alternative to a cabinet headed by the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party and the outgoing premier Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia.
Unofficial reports said the next Serbian government would be large, with between 26 and 28 ministries, in order to satisfy the governing appetites of the new majority partnership.
Cvetkovic may become the first Serbian premier more interested in the country's ailing economy than in politics.
Before his appointment to head the finance ministry in mid-2007, Cvetkovic was hardly known outside his circle of economic experts.
However, his record at the Serbian privatization agency, which he headed in 2003-2004, has been spotty at best, with anti-corruption officials accusing him of allowing at least 88 'dubious' sales of state-owned companies.
With Cvetkovic's nomination, Tadic went against the wishes of the majority within the DS leadership, local reports said. Most policy- making Democrats wanted Bojan Pajtic, the premier of the Vojvodina province, to take over in Serbia.
Tadic, however, has been running the party with a strong will since he took over in 2004, a year after the original leader and prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, was slain.
He sidelined most of the prominent leaders of the Djindjic era and has promoted young, loyal allies such as another candidate for the premier's office, outgoing foreign minister Vuk Jeremic.
A non-party personality and unexposed to the battle of Democrats and Socialists dating to 1990, Cvetkovic may be more acceptable to the junior partners in the coalition than the politically far more skilled Pajtic.
The Socialist leader, Ivica Dacic, welcomed the nomination of Cvetkovic and said he was now expecting a stable government.
'I expect a common policy in the defense of national interests, European integrations, economic growth and social justice,' Dacic told the Tanjug news agency. Kostunica's coalition with the DS fell apart in March over his aim to turn Serbia fully away from the West in protest of its support of Kosovo's independence.
Kostunica has since become openly hostile to the European Union, though most Serbs hope their country would join the body in the near future.
View blog reactions
If you liked this story please support M&C and Buzz the site on Yahoo.
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)
Advertising
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)