New Serb coalition to replace hardline speaker

By Beti Bilandazic

BELGRADE (Reuters) - The European Union urged Serbia on Saturday to press ahead with reforms as a newly-formed coalition prepared to replace hardline parliament speaker Tomislav Nikolic.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, and pro-Western President Boris Tadic agreed a coalition on Friday after 16 weeks of on-off negotiations, to the relief of Western governments who had feared a nationalist resurgence.

Kostunica's party had backed Nikolic for speaker earlier in the week, a move seen as putting pressure on Tadic to agree to join a government on his terms.

The Unites States and European Union said Nikolic's election was return to the dark days of late autocrat Slobodan Milosevic.

They were also pushing for a coalition deal to avoid a power vacuum and possible nationalist backlash at a time when the United Nations is considering giving independence to Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province. Elections would have been called if a deal was not done by May 14.

"There's a majority which demands a new parliament speaker, and a new speaker will be elected," said Nikolic, of the ultranationalist Radical Party. He called a session for Saturday night, saying he wanted to hear "what they have against me".

A statement from the German EU presidency expressed hope Serbia's "future government will initiate relevant reforms so that negotiations on a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between the EU and Serbia... can be resumed."

Brussels froze talks with Serbia a year ago over Belgrade's failure to deliver war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.