Serbian parliament passes pre-membership treaty with EU (1st Lead)

Belgrade - The Serbian parliament on Tuesday backed the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union, taking a small step toward membership of the bloc. In the 250-seat assembly, 140 voted for the SAA, which is a pre- membership agreement and still a long way off full membership of the EU, while 27 representatives from former prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's camp voted against. None of the 78 deputies from the opposition ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS), which is in turmoil and crumbling over Serbian relations with EU, took part in the vote. Now the 27 EU member states also need to approve the treaty to put it into effect, which remains unlikely until Serbia brings the two internationally wanted war crime fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, to justice. The SAA vote was delayed by two months by the nationalist opposition, which obstructed each motion in parliament by filibustering and forced an early, prolonged recess in mid-July. The outcome has finally firmly set Serbia on its European course, after months of wavering in the wake of the secession of its province Kosovo, which triggered the fall of Kostunica's government and early elections in May. The pro-European camp grouped behind President Boris Tadic closely defeated the Serbian nationalist bloc - which has since started splitting amid infighting between hardliners and moderates. Legislators also overwhelmingly passed a major energy deal with Russia, with 212 votes in favour and 26 against, despite criticism that it included an unfavourable sale of the national oil monopoly NIS. Parliament also approved a series of credit arrangements worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The deals had also been stalled for months owing to political uncertainty in Serbia.