Serbian coalition splits over EU-Kosovo policy

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's tottering coalition government on Thursday voted down a bid by nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to rule out any deal with the European Union until it revokes the independence of Kosovo.

The cabinet split 2-to-1 against endorsing a motion raised by the opposition Radicals and backed by Kostunica's party, Radio B92 reported. It said 15 ministers were against and 7 for the anti-EU motion.

The Democratic Party of Serbia's pro-Western president Boris Tadic and its coalition allies in the liberal G17 Plus party see the proposed resolution as a further bid to loosen ties with the European Union over the issue of Kosovo.

No major party in Serbia is ready to concede the loss of Kosovo, whose 90 percent Albanian majority declared independence on February 17 with U.S. and EU backing. But pro-Western parties do not want to go as far as ending Serbia's EU membership bid.

They have so far blocked the resolution from the agenda of parliament, where nationalists would command a strong majority if it came to a vote.

Kostunica told the daily Vecernje Novosti on Thursday that all parties in Serbia were unambiguously in favor of Serbia's membership of the EU. But Serbia needs to know the answer to a key question: "In which borders does the EU recognize Serbia."

"Any agreement between Serbia and the EU implies that both sides know the borders of Serbia," he said.

Serbia, backed by Russia, says Kosovo's independence is illegal and warns it will not recognize an EU rule-of-law mission due to deploy to the new republic in the coming weeks.

Opinion polls indicate that more than 70 percent of Serbs want their country to join the EU.