Party Reactions to Coalition Agreement

UNCLAS BELGRADE 000662

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SR
SUBJECT: Party Reactions to Coalition Agreement



1. (U) The announcement of the formation of a new Serbian government
including the Democratic Party of Serbia/New Serbia (DSS/NS),the
Democratic Party (DS) and the G-17 Plus was received with mixed
feelings. Democratically oriented citizens welcomed the agreement
with relief since it included the replacement of Radical Tomislav
Nikolic as parliamentary speaker and eliminated the possibility of
new elections. However, anxiety remains - two day's worth of fear
that Serbia could return to the political rhetoric of the nineties
has been replaced with a real concern about whether the new
coalition will be capable of taking a reformist course. Political
analysts generally agreed that the news of the agreement between the
parties is good news for Serbia and concluded that if this
government "survives" Kosovo, it will be able to sustain a full
four-year mandate.

TADIC CALLS FOR CONFIDENCE BUILDING, DS FOR INTEGRATION
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2. (U) During popular B92 TV talk show "impression of the week,"
President of Serbia (and DS president) Boris Tadic said he hopes
that the new government composed of parties from the democratic
block will be successful. Tadic said that coalition partners should
"bury the hatchet", build confidence and reach political agreement
in order to fulfill political principles that the citizens voted
for. Tadic denied that pressure from European officials was a
reason why he agreed on continuation of negotiations. He said that
the negotiations actually never stopped since all participants had
in mind only the interests of the country.


3. (U) Deputy President of the DS Dusan Petrovic, meanwhile, stated
that it was natural that the parties needed plenty of time for an
agreement, since the country would pay a much higher price with a
different majority (read: Radicals). According to Petrovic it is
most important that Serbia have a government capable of continuing
European integration, and also to have a government with a clear
goal of using all diplomatic and legal means to preserve the
territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country.

KOSTUNICA ON AHTISAARI'S "ERRONEOUS CALCULATIONS"
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4. (U) In the official Government statement, PM Vojislav Kostunica
said the parties that decided to form the government put the
interest of the state, nation and citizens above their party
interests and said that the formation of the government will bring
stability to Serbia. Kostunica said that the most important reason
for formation of the government is that the country has to have a
legitimate government when the decisive battle for Kosovo is being
fought. Kostunica added: "if Ahtisaari thought that there will be
no government at the moment when Kosovo's future is decided, and
that Serbia will be in an election campaign, it can now be seen that
he thought wrong."


5. (U) Milos Aligrudic, Head of the DSS caucus in the Parliament,
said that the crucial element for the agreement was the position of
the parties over Kosovo. He said that he expects respect for agreed
principles on Kosovo but also on all other issues, in which case
this government will efficiently work in the interests of the state
and for the benefit of all its citizens.

CONDITIONS OF G17 PLUS ACCEPTED
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6. (U) G-17 President Mladjan Dinkic told local press he is
satisfied with the agreement and that his party's most important
condition, replacement of the Speaker of the Parliament, was
accepted by coalition partners.

LDP: ANTI-HAGUE GOVERNMENT
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7. (SBU) The agreement on the formation of a new government is the
logical result of three years'-worth of the politics of cohabitation
between DS, DSS and G17 Plus, that now has simply been formalized in
a coalition agreement, LDP said in a press release. LDP head
Cedomir Jovanovic noted that the most prominent patrons of the
anti-Hague lobby managed to preserve their positions - namely
Kostunica, Jocic (Interior) and BULATOVIC (BIA). These three, he
said, are guarantors that this government in not going to be a
democratic, European government, but will instead continue to be the
promoter and successor of Milosevic's system of values.


8. (SBU) LDP MP Ivan Andric told Poloff that the party's political
position is quite relaxed. Andric believes that LDP can sit back
and watch as the coalition implodes and and their numbers inevitably
go up. Andric believes that as the only democratic opposition
party, LDP should give a few weeks to the government to prove
itself, but also believes that the government will provide enough
reasons for criticism after only few days in office. Andric said
that LDP was prepared for new elections and was ready to join a
wider democratic bloc if a new election was a real choice between a
DSS/SRS ticket and a democratic bloc ticket, but saw no need to join
any other potential coalition as they were confident they would be
able to cross the threshold to participate in any future election.


9. (U) Nenad Canak, Head of Vojvodina MP's caucus, also said he
believes that the new government will not be much different from the
previous one since the main posts, Prime Minister and Interior
Ministry, stayed under the control of DSS. Canak said it is very
dangerous that DSS is in a position to bring down the government at
any moment when it estimates that the government's policies start to
threaten the party's interests on, e.g., ICTY cooperation or
Euro-Atlantic integration. Canak also said he hopes DS ministries
will be more constructive and added that the formation of this
government is bad, but the best Serbia can do for now.

POLT