Serbia’s Democracy in Peril, Premier Says

A political crisis in Yugoslavia’s main republic is threatening democratic reforms, Serbia’s prime minister was quoted as saying Saturday.

The crisis was touched off when Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica’s party pulled out of the government in Serbia, the country’s dominant republic. The move could lead to early elections less than a year after a pro-democracy movement ousted the country’s former leader, Slobodan Milosevic.

“Political instability now represents a huge risk for many of the reforms we have initiated,” Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said in an interview aired on Radio Belgrade.

Djindjic and Kostunica joined forces last year to oust Milosevic, but their differences became vivid after Milosevic was handed over to a U.N. war crimes tribunal in June to face charges related to his actions in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

Kostunica grudgingly went along with the decision to extradite but later implied that Djindjic had acted in the matter without his consent.

Djindjic said a crisis would put reforms on hold and undermine promises to improve an economy shattered by Milosevic’s rule and international sanctions.

Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia pulled its deputies from Djindjic’s Cabinet on Friday, accusing the government of “doing little to fight organized crime and corruption.”

The pullout by Kostunica’s deputies does not automatically signal a government collapse, but it could set up a vote of confidence in parliament.