Following a well known practice of preparing press releases without any consideration of the content, the press teams of the European Commission and the European Council have issued a statement congratulating the nationalist opposition candidate Tomislav Nikolić on a victory in the presidential elections in Serbia, hours before the ballot stations were even closed.

The premature release was quickly removed from the web, but it caused major turmoil in Serbia online media, giving a boost to the nationalist opposition candidate.

In a joint statement, Presidents of the European Council Herman van Rompuy and the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, congratulated Nikolić on his election for president of Serbia and Serbian people on competitive and peaceful elections on 6 and 20 May.

They also wished “President Nikolić” success in facing the challenges of ensuring economic growth and prosperity and expressed hope they could “rely on his personal commitment” to EU integrations.

Nikolić was endorsed before the second round only by anti-EU political forces and this EU blunder not only that was careless, but also potentially detrimental to the outcome of the elections in Serbia.

The only explanation provided by the press team of the European Council was "Sorry, handling mistake in our news publisher!"

With the far reaching effect of the release, which was spun in Serbian online media as an open act of support for Nikolić, there has to be someone who actually approved the content of the statement, aware of the political sensitivities.

If, indeed, Nikolić wins, the EU will not only have to deal with him and a significantly more complicated political situation in Europe’s powder keg – Serbia – but also with the fact that their incompetence might have contributed to that.