VZCZCXRO1595
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #0625/01 1760824
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 240824Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0096
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0011
RHEHNS/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RXFEAA/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 000625 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SR
SUBJECT: SERBIA: SOCIALISTS ACCEPT COALITION WITH PRO-EUROPEAN 
FORCES 
 
REF: Belgrade 616 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) After weeks of slow progress, President Tadic's "For a 
European Serbia" coalition and the Socialists launched and quickly 
concluded formal coalition negotiations over the weekend.  The Main 
Board of the Socialist Party voted overwhelmingly on June 23 in 
favor of a coalition with pro-European forces, paving the way for a 
parliamentary session on June 24 to elect a speaker.  The formation 
of the government is expected to happen quickly, with Tadic's 
Democratic Party taking the Prime Minister slot and Socialist leader 
Ivica Dacic becoming a Deputy Prime Minister.  End summary. 
 
Formal Negotiations Finally Begin 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The Socialist Party (SPS) announced on June 21 that their 
negotiations with the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and the Democratic 
Party of Serbia (DSS) had concluded, and launched formal 
negotiations with President Tadic's Democratic Party (DS) that night 
at DS party headquarters which continued through the weekend. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) We understand that G-17 Plus leader Mladjan Dinkic refused 
to participate directly in the negotiations, complicating the 
process.  Dinkic was reportedly unhappy with the proposed deal that 
would give G-17 Plus and SPS the same number of ministerial slots, 
and is holding out for the Speaker of Parliament position, the 
European integration portfolio, or the Ministry of Finance. 
 
SPS Votes on Monday for Coalition 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The 300-member SPS main board met at 15:00 on June 23 to 
vote on the DS coalition offer.  Dacic's chief of staff Milisav 
Premovic confirmed to us as the session concluded at 17:30 that the 
board had voted for the coalition with President Tadic's "For a 
European Serbia" by a margin of 286 to 11.  Premovic said the exact 
allocation of portfolios was not discussed during the session, but 
that the deal for SPS remained the same as Dacic had described to us 
the previous week (reftel). 
 
Predicted Ministerial Portfolios 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) Speculation in the media regarding the division of 
ministerial portfolios has settled on a core group of names.  The 
daily Vecernje Novosti predicted on June 23 that the cabinet would 
be divided as follows: 
 
Prime Minister: either Mirko Svetkovic or Bojan Pajtic from the DS; 
(Note: We received information from one source late today that 
current FM Jeremic may be making a push for the Prime Minister 
position.  Vuk's name has dropped from the press speculation, but he 
did have an opportunity to influence President Tadic during their 
trip to New York this past weekend. End Note) 
 
Deputy Prime Ministers: SPS leader Ivica Dacic (with responsibility 
for security), Dinkic from G-17 Plus, PUPS leader Jovan Krkobabic, 
and possibly Oliver Dulic from the DS (with responsibility for 
European integration; another scenario puts Dulic in charge of a new 
Ministry for European Integration); 
 
Key ministries for DS:  Trade (Slobodan Milosavljevic, currently 
Minister of Agriculture), Foreign Affairs (incumbent Vuk Jeremic), 
Defense (incumbent Dragan Sutanovac), Justice (incumbent Dusan 
Petrovic), Public Administration and Local Government (incumbent 
Milan Markovic), and Finance (Janko Guzijan, currently State 
Secretary at MOF); 
 
Key ministries for SPS:  Interior (Dacic), Energy (Petar Skundric), 
Infrastructure (Milutin Mrkonjic, if he is not selected as Speaker 
of Parliament), and Education (Zarko Obradovic); 
 
Key ministries for G-17 Plus:  National Investment Plan (Verica 
Kalanovic), Health (incumbent Tomica Milosavljevic), Youth and Sport 
(incumbent Snezana Samardzic Markovic), Telecommunications (Jasna 
Matic), and Culture (either Hebojsa Bradic or Goran Paskalivic); 
 
Bosniak parties:  Labor and Social Policy (incumbent Rasim Ljajic, 
head of the Sandzak Democratic Party), and the new Ministry of 
Regional Development (Bajram Omeragic of Sulaiman Ugljanin's Sandzak 
Democratic Action Party). 
 
 
BELGRADE 00000625  002 OF 002 
 
 
Kosovo Ministry:  May be abolished. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Ivan Andric from the LDP confirmed to us that members of 
parliament were formally notified on June 23 that the Parliament 
will continue its constitutive session on June 24 at 4:00 pm. 
Acting speaker Jovan Krkobabic will chair the session, which began 
on June 11; the first order of business will presumably be to elect 
a speaker.  SPS clearly expects the position to go to their 
candidate Slavica Djukic Dejanovic; G-17 Plus had put forward their 
whip Suzana Grubjesic for the job. 
 
¶7.  (U) President Tadic must appoint a candidate for Prime Minister, 
who will make public the exact composition of the cabinet and call 
for a vote.  We do not yet have a timeline for these next steps. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment:  With government negotiations having stretched on 
for over six weeks, the cohesion of Tadic's own coalition was 
starting to unravel as smaller parties such as G-17 Plus began 
demanding a bigger part of the pie.  Tadic appears to recognize that 
the time had come to finalize the negotiations and took action.  End 
comment. 
PEDERSON