Belgrade: Serbian President Boris Tadic dissolved parliament and called early elections for May 11, after the ruling coalition collapsed in a rift over ties with the EU and Kosovo's independence. "The elections are a democratic way for citizens to say how Serbia should develop in years to come," Tadic said in a statement yesterday.

The parliament s dismissal was requested by nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica s government, which said it was unable to overcome wrangling over Serbia s integration in the European Union and Kosovo independence.

Kostunica announced Saturday last that his Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) had failed to solve the dispute with its pro-European coalition partners from Tadic s Democratic Party (DS). The government s collapse came less than a month after ethnic Albanian majority Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia, which considers the territory its historic heartland.

Angered by most EU countries decision to recognise Kosovo s independence, Kostunica, backed by the opposition ultra-nationalist Radical Party (SRS), vowed to stop Serbia s EU integration unless the bloc acknowledged Kosovo as a part of Serbia.

"It is extremely important that citizens decide and choose a government responsible to the nation that will have the strength to fight for preserving Kosovo," Kostunica said in a statement yesterday.

A new government should "negotiate with the EU on the entry of the entire country into Europe" with Kosovo as a part of it, Kostunica said.

Source : PTI