NEWSMAKER-Hardliner Nikolic says is 'no danger to Serbia'
By Ellie Tzortzi
BELGRADE, May 8 (Reuters) - Tomislav Nikolic, the Serbian parliament's new speaker, is an ultranationalist demonised by the West as the spiritual heir to Slobodan Milosevic, the late autocrat who led Serbia through a decade of wars and poverty.
But Nikolic insists he is no extremist, and will not lead Serbia into isolation. Elected with the backing of outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, he now holds the country's third most powerful post.
"I am not a danger to Serbia," he said after his election. "As parliament speaker I will stand for the respect of democratic principles."
Nikolic, a tall, solemn 55-year old, has led the Radicals since February 2003 when official party head Vojislav Seselj surrendered to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague to face charges of war crimes in the 1990s.
The party came first in the Jan. 21 election after Nikolic pushed populist pledges focusing on battling corruption and boosting living standards.
He also took a softer line on national issues: although he visits Seselj often in The Hague and consults him for major decisions, he has said the party leader's vision of a Greater Serbia was more of a long-term project.
He says the Radicals will never accept the loss of Kosovo, the breakaway province whose Albanian majority expects to get independence by summer, but he won't lead Serbia to war over it.
"Serbia can't go to war against the world," Nikolic has said. "I wouldn't send my children to such a war, and I also wouldn't send other people's children."
Instead, he thinks Serbia should declare Kosovo "occupied" if the West grants independence, and derides pro-Western politicians who back the plan as 'traitors'.
He favours European Union membership on Serbia's terms. But the country should never join NATO, which bombed it in 1999. He wants close ties with Russia, China and the Arab world.
"We want to be in the EU if they respect us as a modern sovereign state," Nikolic has said. Serbs have had enough of EU "pressure and blackmail", he added, in reference to Brussels' demand that Belgrade track down top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic before clinching membership.
The EU froze talks with Serbia a year ago because of its failure to capture Mladic. Nikolic thinks Brussels will back down and resume negotiations, if only Serbia stands firm.
(For the main story, click on [nTZO815835])
BELGRADE, May 8 (Reuters) - Tomislav Nikolic, the Serbian parliament's new speaker, is an ultranationalist demonised by the West as the spiritual heir to Slobodan Milosevic, the late autocrat who led Serbia through a decade of wars and poverty.
But Nikolic insists he is no extremist, and will not lead Serbia into isolation. Elected with the backing of outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, he now holds the country's third most powerful post.
"I am not a danger to Serbia," he said after his election. "As parliament speaker I will stand for the respect of democratic principles."
Nikolic, a tall, solemn 55-year old, has led the Radicals since February 2003 when official party head Vojislav Seselj surrendered to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague to face charges of war crimes in the 1990s.
The party came first in the Jan. 21 election after Nikolic pushed populist pledges focusing on battling corruption and boosting living standards.
He also took a softer line on national issues: although he visits Seselj often in The Hague and consults him for major decisions, he has said the party leader's vision of a Greater Serbia was more of a long-term project.
He says the Radicals will never accept the loss of Kosovo, the breakaway province whose Albanian majority expects to get independence by summer, but he won't lead Serbia to war over it.
"Serbia can't go to war against the world," Nikolic has said. "I wouldn't send my children to such a war, and I also wouldn't send other people's children."
Instead, he thinks Serbia should declare Kosovo "occupied" if the West grants independence, and derides pro-Western politicians who back the plan as 'traitors'.
He favours European Union membership on Serbia's terms. But the country should never join NATO, which bombed it in 1999. He wants close ties with Russia, China and the Arab world.
"We want to be in the EU if they respect us as a modern sovereign state," Nikolic has said. Serbs have had enough of EU "pressure and blackmail", he added, in reference to Brussels' demand that Belgrade track down top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic before clinching membership.
The EU froze talks with Serbia a year ago because of its failure to capture Mladic. Nikolic thinks Brussels will back down and resume negotiations, if only Serbia stands firm.
(For the main story, click on [nTZO815835])
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