Europe and the Greek issue: Profits, losses, missteps and uncertainties

The victory of Tomislav Nikolić in the presidential elections in Serbia last May surprised and worried commentators. For a long time, Nikolić had acted as deputy leader to war crimes suspect Vojislav Šešelj in the radical nationalist Serbian Radical Party but he split to form his own pro-EU Serbian Progressive Party in 2008. The fear was that he would now revert to his political roots and endanger Serbia’s just-gained candidate status for European Union membership. The subsequent formation of a government coalition that excluded the outgoing president Boris Tadić’s Democratic Party appeared to confirm Serbia’s change of course. Symbolically, Ivica Dačić, the outgoing Interior Minister and the head of the late Slobodan Milošević’s Socialist Party of Serbia, became Prime Minister.