BELGRADE (AP) -- Serbia's parliament approved a new pro-democracy government, overcoming efforts by anti-Western ultranationalists to derail the vote and force new elections.

The 133-106 endorsement of the coalition government came only a half hour before a midnight deadline to approve the government or call new elections. Parliamentary elections in January produced no clear winner, and months of bickering followed.

Serbia's Radicals, who ruled with the late President Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s, had stalled the approval of the government with lengthy debates in apparent hopes of missing the deadline.

New elections would have likely benefited the Radicals, who won the most seats in the parliamentary elections but not enough to govern. The European Union and the United States had repeatedly urged pro-democracy groups to forge a coalition and ensure that the increasingly popular Radicals remain at bay.

The coalition government consists of pro-Western Democrats led by President Boris Tadic, and the conservative Democratic Party of Serbia, headed by moderately nationalist Vojislav Kostunica. The two groups forged a last-minute power sharing deal last week.

The new government will face its first major test in a few weeks when the UN Security Council is expected to vote on a plan to give independence to the southern province of Kosovo.

Kostunica has threatened to cut diplomatic ties with all states that recognize Kosovo's split from Serbia, while Tadic has advocated a moderate approach.

Earlier Tuesday, Kostunica said Serbia wanted EU membership but not at the price of losing Kosovo. "Membership in the European Union is a clearly defined goal of this government," said Kostunica, who has headed the government since 2004. "But there will be no territorial concessions. Kosovo is a part of Serbia and it will always remain so."

Western nations support independence for Kosovo, rejecting Serbia's offer of broad autonomy for the ethnic Albanian-dominated region. Russia has sided with Serbia, leading to fears of a standoff in the Security Council.

Serbia's political drama climaxed last week when Kostunica — still unable to reach a power-sharing agreement with Tadic — suddenly endorsed Serbian Radical Party leader Tomislav Nikolic as the speaker of the parliament, the No. 2 position in the country.

That alarmed Western officials and Serbia's neighbors, who feared renewed tensions in a region that went through four bloody wars during the Milosevic era.

But with the last minute-agreement between the pro-democracy groups, Nikolic was forced to resign Sunday after only five days in the job.

Only hours before the vote, the radicals interrupted the session after news that the military police unsuccessfully searched a Belgrade motel for Bosnian Serb wartime commander Gen. Ratko Mladic. The fugtive is wanted on genocide charges by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian in Srebrenica in 1995. The Radicals, however, consider him a war hero.

Last year, the European Union suspended pre-membership talks with Serbia because of its failure to capture Mladic.