Serbs say No to EU if Kosovo independence recognized

By Douglas Hamilton

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia said on Wednesday it would shun any offer of membership of the European Union or NATO if they recognized the breakaway province of Kosovo as an independent state.

Raising the stakes in the bid to block independence, the national assembly voted 220 to 14 in favor of a resolution saying Serbia would not sign any treaty that did not acknowledge its territorial integrity and sovereignty over Kosovo.

It was backed by President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, leaders of the two main parties in Serbia's centre-right ruling coalition, and supported by ultranationalist Radicals and Socialists on the opposition benches.

Focusing on the Stabilization and Association Agreement that Serbia may sign with the EU next month, the resolution said "any treaty Serbia signs, including the SAA, must be in keeping with preservation of (its) sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Serbia would shelve a decision on NATO membership, it said, and it would oppose a EU supervisory mission preparing to take over from the United Nations in Kosovo unless it won Security Council approval -- which Russia has already blocked on behalf of its Serb ally.

Rhetoric in the debate was patriotic and defiant. But several speakers complained the resolution's wording was vague, perhaps deliberately so to permit harder or softer interpretation at a later date, depending on events.

"Serbia will never accept the independence of Kosovo," Tadic told parliament. The diplomatic campaign against it would resume at a U.N. Security Council session on January 9.

If NATO peacekeepers failed to protect Kosovo's minority Serbs, "the Serbian Army is ready", he added in a tough note possibly meant to help his current campaign for re-election.

Kostunica, usually the more combative of the two, said the resolution would "send a message to Serbs in Kosovo ... that they should ignore any unilateral declaration of independence".

Most Serbs live in the north of Kosovo, in effect already partitioned from land dominated by the 90-percent Albanian majority, who are preparing to declare independence in the first months of 2008 with U.S. and EU backing.

Analysts say a Serb partition would be hard to prevent, assuming any side really wanted to prevent it.

CYNICAL TONE

A senior government source said Wednesday's resolution was a political necessity to preserve Serbia's fragile coalition during the January presidential campaign. He said the EU had been reassured that it did not signify a change of course.

Pro-Western Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said he hoped Serbia would sign the SAA by the end of January, regardless of the resolution, but also without ceding sovereignty over Kosovo.

Hardliners were cynical about the coalition's sincerity.