(dpa) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica hinted Friday that his cabinet was at an end amid strife over the country's path.
"I no more have confidence in the coalition partners ... that they are honestly fighting to save Kosovo," Kostunica told the state news agency Tanjug. "The government of Serbia is in a big crisis."
Kostunica clashed with his partners by insisting that Serbia should not continue negotiating membership of the European Union because of Western support for Kosovo.
Kosovo, with its majority Albanian population, declared independence from Serbia in February. Leading Western nations recognized the new state, and the EU deployed a mission to aid it.
Kostunica's partners, led by President Boris Tadic, outvoted him in his own cabinet on Thursday to block a resolution that would have effectively cemented the suspension of Serbia's EU talks.
The draft resolution, fielded by the ultra-nationalist opposition, insisted that Serbia could negotiate membership only if Brussels recognized its sovereignty over Kosovo.
The conservative premier has turned increasingly nationalist and pro-Russian as Kosovo's split neared. Since, he has sided with the ultra-nationalist opposition Serbian Radical Party (SRS).
Kostunica may combine with the SRS and Slobodan Milosevic's Socialists for a new majority in parliament and a new cabinet to avert early elections and a test of his dwindling popularity.
It would also end the paralysis of the government and parliament, inflicted by Kostunica's shift toward the far right; as it is, he is a minority in the government, but has the majority in parliament with his new allies.
"Parliamentary parties must over the next few days agree on how to emerge from this crisis," Kostunica said. His Democratic Party of Serbia was due to consider its options early next week.