Boris Tadić

Tadić, Boris, 1958-, Serbian political leader, president of Serbia (2004-), b. Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina). A student activist while attending Belgrade Univ., Tadić joined the Democratic party (DS) in 1990. A decade later, when the DS joined with other groups to form the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and force President Slobodan Milošević from power. Tadić was elected to the National Assembly and became minister of telecommunications. He served as defense minister from 2003 to 2004, when he became DS party leader. Later that year, he was elected president of Serbia; he was reelected in 2008. A pro-Western reformer who favors Serbia's joining the European Union, Tadić opposed independence for Kosovo while rejecting Prime Minister Koštunica's hard-line approach with respect to those nations supporting Kosovo's independence.