Serbian MPs set to reject Kosovo’s independence

Week-long session also expected to approve Gazprom deal

A woman walks past graffiti on a wall reading ‘EU (European Union) No, thanks!’ in the Serbian capital Belgrade, yesterday. Serbia’s new pro-European government has set itself the goal of opening EU membership talks in the second half of 2009.

BELGRADE (AP) – Serbia’s parliament is set to reject Kosovo’s independence once again this week. Lawmakers meeting from yesterday are also to vote on a pre-membership accord with the EU and an energy deal with Russia.

Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic urged lawmakers to support the three documents and said the Kosovo resolution “represents Serbia’s desire to join the EU together with its province of Kosovo.” The documents are expected to be approved as Serbia’s new pro-EU government has a slight majority in Serbia’s 250-seat assembly.

Serbia, with strong Russian backing, remains opposed to Kosovo’s split from Belgrade. It has vowed to block it from joining international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and its sister organization, the World Bank. However, the IMF on Tuesday recognized that Kosovo has seceded from Serbia as a newly independent state and said its application for membership in the 185-nation lending organization “will be considered in due course.” The new Serbian document on Kosovo again rejects its independence.

However, former Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia and his ultranationalist allies have said they will not back the new resolution because of its failure to mention the EU’s mission in Kosovo. The EU mission is due to take over the administration of the province from the United Nations.

The lawmakers are also to vote on ratifying a pre-membership trade-and-aid pact with the EU, to take effect when Belgrade arrests top Bosnian Serb fugitive General Ratko Mladic.

Also to be approved at the parliament session that is expected to last until the end of this week is an energy deal with Russia’s giant Gazprom that envisages the construction of a gas pipeline across Serbia’s territory and the sale of its oil monopoly, NIS.