RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
___________________________________________________________
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 235, Part II, 16 December 2003

EU CALLS ON SERBIA TO 'CHOOSE THE FUTURE.'

After meeting in Belgrade
with Serbia and Montenegro's President Svetozar Marovic on 15
December, EU foreign- and security-policy chief Javier Solana said
Serbia will choose between the past and the future in the 28 December
parliamentary elections, Hina reported. Solana stressed that he hopes
Serbs will "choose the future...[and] the path to Europe," adding
that the EU is ready to help. He criticized the decision by several
Serbian political parties to include indicted war criminals on their
election slates, which, he said, could be understood as an
"unnecessary provocation" (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 12 December
2003). Solana also met with Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic,
former Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, and Serbia and
Montenegro's Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic. Recent polls suggest
that the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) led by indicted war criminal
Vojislav Seselj is likely to receive more votes than any other single
party. PM