Analyst Warns EU May Urge Bulgaria to Halt Gas Supplies to Serbia Amid Energy Tensions
Analyst Vladimir Vladimirov warned that the European Commission could ask Bulgaria to halt gas supplies to Serbia as early as next year
Tadic is facing Nikolic (right) in a runoff for the Serbian Presidency. File photo
Serbia is holding run-off presidential elections Sunday, with voters having to choose between incumbent reformist Boris Tadic and nationalist Tomislav Nikolic.
The outcome of the vote may influence both Serbia's EU future and the future of the former province of Kosovo which declared independence in 2008, BBC analysts write.
Tadic, who has already served two terms in office, calls the vote a referendum on EU membership.
Nikolic, who has lost to Tadic twice, says he also supports the EU bid but not at any cost. In his campaign, he focused on the economy, promising fresh investment and higher tax on the wealthy.
Some analysts question the depth of the pro-European conversion of Nikolic, former right-hand man to Vojislav Seselj, now on trial for alleged war crimes in The Hague, in the nationalist Radical Party.
Even in the last elections in 2008, Nikolic ran against Tadic on a nationalist pro-Russian and anti-EU platform. But he and his followers later broke with the Radicals and formed the avowedly pro-EU Progressive party, taking many former Radical voters with them.
After the first round of the election on 6 May, the nationalist Progressive party accused Tadic's supporters of vote manipulation, a claim that was rejected both by electoral officials and foreign monitors.
In a presidential debate on Wednesday, Democratic Party leader, Tadic said: "We want a piece of that pie, conditions for jobs, guarantees for investments... Bosch, Siemens, Fiat, and Benetton would never have come to Serbia without the guarantee provided by the status of EU candidate."
Under his leadership Serbia carried out EU candidacy negotiations, and captured and handed to international prosecutors at The Hague Bosnian Serb war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic.
During Wednesday's debate, Nikolic told Tadic: "Do not defend the EU against me because the EU does not defend itself against me.
Serbia has a staggering unemployment of 24% and foreign debt of EUR 24 B.
Romania has ordered the evacuation of the border village of Plauru after a Russian drone strike on a Ukrainian port sparked a fire on a gas-carrying vessel nearby
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron signed a declaration on Nov. 17 that sets out a long-term framework for cooperation in the defense sector
Ukraine and Greece have finalized a landmark energy agreement, making Greece the first European Union country to actively participate in the U.S.-led effort to replace Russian gas
Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk has described the recent explosion on a key railway route between Warsaw and Lublin as “an unprecedented act of sabotage aimed at the security of the Polish state and its citizens.”
US President Donald Trump has called on House Republicans to support the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, dismissing the controversy as a “Democrat hoax” and accusing his political opponents
Nataliia Khodemchuk, widow of Valerii Khodemchuk - the first person to die in the 1986 Chornobyl catastrophe - has been confirmed as one of the victims of the large-scale Russian attack on Kyiv
Bulgaria's Strategic Role in the EU's Drone Wall Defense Initiative
When Politics Means Violence