EU's Ashton To Meet Serbia's New Cabinet, Address Parliament

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was once an ultranationalist hawk but reinvented himself as a pro-European anticorruption campaigner.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is expected to meet with Serbia's new government and address the parliament in Belgrade.

Ashton's office says she will meet President Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, and parliament speaker Maja Gojkovic on April 28.

Vucic won a landslide victory in a March vote called after Serbia began EU membership talks in the wake of a landmark accord with breakaway Kosovo last year that was brokered by Ashton.

Vucic, 44, was once an ultranationalist hawk but reinvented himself as a pro-European anticorruption campaigner.

His government will have to take further steps to normalize relations with Kosovo, a key condition for Serbia's EU membership hopes.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters