Serbia adrift as U.N. mulls Kosovo independence

By Ellie Tzortzi

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia sank further into crisis on Wednesday after deadlocked coalition talks and spats among its leaders threatened to create a power vacuum just as the United Nations considered independence for Kosovo province.

It is unlikely a coalition will emerge from the inconclusive Jan 21 election despite weeks of haggling between Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, and the pro-Western Democrats of President Boris Tadic.

Kostunica backed the election of ultranationalist Tomislav Nikolic as parliament speaker on Tuesday, enraging the Democrats who said the premier was trying to blackmail them into a deal before May 14, the date after which an election must be called.

"I foresee new elections," said Nikolic, deputy leader of the Radicals, Serbia's strongest party. There was "no way" he would prop up Kostunica in a coalition government.

"There will be no coalition deal, we'll pass a few laws this week and parliament will be dissolved," Nikolic said.

Commentators said the coalition talks and the election of Nikolic disguised the real issue -- the looming independence of Kosovo whose Albanian majority expects to get its own state by mid-year despite Serbia's objections.

"As long as there's no government nor parliament...there is no one in Belgrade who could sign independence of any kind for Kosovo," wrote the daily Dnevnik of Slovenia, a fellow former Yugoslav republic already in the European Union.

No Serb politician wanted to be a traitor, it said.