Return of Nationalism?

"The chancellor this afternoon called Prime Minister Kostunica and informed him personally of her concern," Ulrich Wilhelm said.

"She furthermore urged him to use the narrow timeframe still available for forming a democratic government in order to keep Serbia's European prospects alive," he added.

Wilhelm was referring to a looming deadline for Serbia's political parties to form a government following legislative elections in January or face a new vote. Under the Balkan state's constitution, they have until May 14.

Serbia's pro-European President Boris Tadic has set a Friday deadline for parties that voted in an ultra-nationalist as parliament speaker to show if they have a majority for forming a coalition government.

A powerful post

Tomislav Nikolic, the leader of the Serbian Radical Party which won most votes in the Jan. 21 elections, was voted in as parliamentary speaker on Tuesday with the support of Kostunica's moderate nationalists.

It is one of the three most powerful posts in the country and observers say Nikolic's election deepens the political paralysis that has beset Serbia.

Squabbling moderate parties have so far failed to form a coalition, despite fears that new elections could see the extreme nationalists increase their share of the vote.

The Radical party was an on-off ally of late authoritarian Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's Socialists throughout the Balkan wars up until his arrest in 2001 and removal to the UN international war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

A sensitive moment

Nikolic's election was also criticized by the Council of Europe just as Belgrade was due to assume on Friday the rotating chairmanship of the council's Committee of Ministers which groups the 46 member states' foreign ministers and representatives.

Rene van der Linden, president of the council's parliamentary assembly, said that the election of Nikolic was "a burden on Serbia's ability to carry out its task" as chairman of the committee.

"The parliamentary assembly's values are totally opposed to those of Mr. Nikolic's party. Given the gravity of this issue, the parliamentary assembly will continue to follow developments closely," he said.

The Kosovo question

The European Union froze rapprochement talks with Belgrade a year ago, mainly because of Belgrade's failure to hand former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Nikolic's election, however, comes as Serbia battles the prospect of its province of Kosovo being awarded independence by the UN Security Council, an issue the Radicals have campaigned hard against.

It was an argument over key security posts that handle the Kosovo issue and relations with the UN tribunal that led to the break up of coalition talks between the parties of Serbia's pro-European president Boris Tadic, Kostunica and the reformist G17 Plus.