Serbian nationalist: EU must face reality

BELGRADE, Serbia, May 23 (UPI) -- Tomislav Nikolic, leader of the Serbian ultra-nationalists, told a German magazine his country will never recognize an independent Kosovo.

Nikolic, in an interview with Der Spiegel, said he favors joining the European Union, but only a union that recognizes Kosovo as part of Serbia.

"It is not us but Europe that needs to face reality," he said. "For precisely these reasons, there are many countries in both Europe and elsewhere in the world which will never recognize the precedence of Kosovo."

Nikolic's Serbian Radical Party won 77 seats in recent parliamentary elections. President Boris Tadic, whose "For A European Serbia" alliance won 103 seats, is trying to put together a government.

Another possibility is an alliance of the Radicals, Socialists and Democratic Party of Serbia. Nikolic agreed with the interviewer that such a government would not last long.