"Americans told SNS not to form govt. with DSS"

U.S. administration would find it "unacceptable if the next government in Serbia should be formed by those who took part in burning down foreign embassies". This was told to officials of the opposition SNS party, according to a report today in the Belgrade-based tabloid Blic. "Americans told SNS not to form govt. with DSS" The paper writes that it learned from diplomatic circles that the U.S. see the now opposition Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) as "the most responsible" for the incidents, which took place in Belgrade several days after ethnic Albanians in Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, in early 2008. This means, continued the article, that any government with the DSS in it would not have America's support. This position was made clear to the officials of the SNS, "several times during informal gatherings and contacts", Blic added. The daily's source was also quoted as saying that "generally speaking, the U.S. administration is not opposed to the SNS in power because the party proved to be cooperative, distancing itself from the Hague lobby, and offering its cooperation". Asked to comment on this report, SNS deputy leader Aleksandar Vucic told Blic that he "did not wish to talk about such things", but that it was "completely clear that representatives of western countries took the burning of their embassies hard and are looking for culprits for such incidents". Meanwhile, former DSS ally Velimir Ilic, now in coalition with the SNS, told B92 on Tuesday that neither the Progressives nor his New Serbia (NS) faced "any conditioning regarding their coalition partners, or the DSS": "It's true there were contacts with representatives from America, with the authorities and all kinds of NGOs, but nobody ever set a codition regarding who we should go with. Whenever there were contacts of this nature one thing only was said - we will respect those elected by the people, who win the election." Parliamentary elections will be held in Serbia in late April or early May. The Progressives top public opinion surveys, followed by the ruling Democrats (DS). A view of the White House in Washington (Bojana Jevremovic, B92, file) B92 Blic

"Americans told SNS not to form govt. with DSS"

The paper writes that it learned from diplomatic circles that the U.S. see the now opposition Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) as "the most responsible" for the incidents, which took place in Belgrade several days after ethnic Albanians in Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, in early 2008.

This means, continued the article, that any government with the DSS in it would not have America's support.

This position was made clear to the officials of the SNS, "several times during informal gatherings and contacts", Blic added.

The daily's source was also quoted as saying that "generally speaking, the U.S. administration is not opposed to the SNS in power because the party proved to be cooperative, distancing itself from the Hague lobby, and offering its cooperation".

Asked to comment on this report, SNS deputy leader Aleksandar Vučić told Blic that he "did not wish to talk about such things", but that it was "completely clear that representatives of western countries took the burning of their embassies hard and are looking for culprits for such incidents".

Meanwhile, former DSS ally Velimir Ilić, now in coalition with the SNS, told B92 on Tuesday that neither the Progressives nor his New Serbia (NS) faced "any conditioning regarding their coalition partners, or the DSS":

"It's true there were contacts with representatives from America, with the authorities and all kinds of NGOs, but nobody ever set a codition regarding who we should go with. Whenever there were contacts of this nature one thing only was said - we will respect those elected by the people, who win the election."

Parliamentary elections will be held in Serbia in late April or early May. The Progressives top public opinion surveys, followed by the ruling Democrats (DS).