SERBIA: New Serbian President Mr Boris Tadic promised to implement pro-EU policies as he took office yesterday, two weeks after defeating a hardline nationalist in a long-awaited election.
The reformist leader vowed to help bring stability and end division in the Balkan republic, which plunged into poverty and isolation during former president Slobodan Milosevic's rule.
"The forthcoming period will not be an easy one," he told parliament during a televised ceremony. "It will be characterised by our intention to join the European Union." Mr Tadic, of the centre-left Democratic Party, beat Mr Tomislav Nikolic of the ultra-nationalist Radical Party in a June 27th run-off.
Western powers hope Mr Tadic's five-year mandate will help end feuding among pro-democracy politicians who united against Milosevic but later split in acrimony.With the presidential election out of the way, Belgrade faces renewed international pressure to hand over key figures accused of atrocities during the 1990s Balkan conflicts to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. -