By Ellie Tzortzi
BELGRADE (Reuters) - The coalition government of SerbianPrime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was formally dissolved onMonday, opening the way for an early parliamentary election.
The decision was taken at a brief cabinet session followingKostunica's announcement on Saturday that the government couldnot continue in office owing to deep disunity over defendingKosovo versus pursuing a place in the European Union.
"The government did not have a united and common policy anymore," a statement said, "and this kept it from performing itsbasic constitutional function, to define and lead Serbia'spolitics."
President Boris Tadic must now disband parliament and set adate for the election, probably on May 11. It will be the mostimportant election since voters ended the era of the lateautocrat Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.
The vote will be a close race between the Democrats and thenationalist Radicals, the strongest party.
Kostunica, whose party lies a distant third, quit aftertacitly accusing his coalition partners, the Democrats and theG17 Plus party, of giving up on Kosovo, the 90-percent Albanianprovince which seceded last month with Western backing.
Not all of the Union's 27 members have recognised Kosovo,but Brussels is deploying a supervisory mission that willmonitor the territory's progress as an independent state.
Tadic, also the head of the Democrats, said on Sunday thatattempts to divide Serbs into patriots and traitors over Kosovowould backfire at the polls. A strong and stable Serbia wouldbe in a better position to defend its interests, he added.
"If we join the EU, then we can make sure that this outlawstate never becomes an EU member, he said on a TV talk-show.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose countryholds the EU's rotating presidency, said he hoped for a victoryfor pro-European parties in the poll.
"To be quite frank, I don't think there is any otherpossibility for our Serbian friends than the European Union.Where should they go?" he said in Brussels on Monday.
'NO CHANGE' ON KOSOVO
Serbia spent almost five months in limbo under a caretakergovernment in 2007, also under Kostunica, until he and theDemocrats hammered out a policy they could both stand by.
Their deep differences meant the government worked in fitsand starts, between compromise and crisis, moving slowly onreforms and ending up last in the Balkan queue of EU hopefuls.
Polls indicate the election could produce a hung parliamentand a coalition deal might need long negotiations.
Such a delay could stall urgent legislation and the arrestof war crime suspects -- a key condition for EU membership. ButKostunica's officials say the caretaker government will stayfirm in its total opposition to independent Kosovo.
"Serbs and other loyal citizens in Kosovo shouldn't worry,"said Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic.
Belgrade is instructing Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs tosever ties with Kosovo's government and ignore the EU mission.The Serb-dominated north is a flashpoint for any move towards ade facto partition.
Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who has warned Belgradeagainst trying to carve off part of the territory, said onSunday Kosovo had contributed to Serbia's democratisation.
"In 1999, when we pushed the police, army andadministration out of Kosovo, Milosevic's fall from powerstarted," he said at a border crossing where he unveiled a'Welcome to Kosovo' sign.
"Now, with Kosovo's independence, Kostunica has fallen, thementality of the past has fallen in Serbia."
(Edited by Dominic Evans)
