Belgrade - Serbia's parliament failed on Friday to break
a three-day deadlock over a pre-membership treaty with the European
Union as opposition lawmakers blocked a procedural vote.
Filibustering by hardline nationalists has kept parliament from
adopting an agenda for the session that began Wednesday, foiling
efforts by the pro-Western government to ratify the Stabilization and
Association Agreement (SAA) for Serbia.
Ratification is needed for Serbia to move toward the EU and
Belgrade's goal of obtaining candidate status in 2009.
'The opposition is endangering the vital interests of the people
with this filibustering, ' Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said
Thursday.
Opposition lawmakers charge that the governing coalition is
breaching parliamentary rules because it put Kosovo as the last item
of the debate.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February, a move
backed by the United States and most European countries but rejected
by Russia and Serbia is illegal.
The opposition is also angry at the late strongman Slobodan
Milosevic's Socialist party for joining the national government and
reneging on a deal with them to govern the capital, Belgrade.
Serbian and EU officials signed the SAA in April, just before May
11 elections that brought the current government to power.
The pact lays out political, economic and legal reforms for Serbia
to bring the country in line with the EU. Brussels conditioned its
approval on Belgrade's full cooperation with the UN tribunal that is
seeking top Serb war criminals for trial.
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