Former nationalist opposition leader Tomislav Nikolic was inaugurated as Serbia's new president Thursday, May 31, AP said.

Nikolic, who claims to have shifted from being staunchly anti-Western to turning pro-European Union, was sworn in for a five-year term in at an inaugural session of Serbia's new Parliament.

Nikolic defeated his predecessor Boris Tadic in the presidential election in May, and Nikolic's Progressive Party won the largest number of seats in the 250-member assembly.

But because Tadic's pro-EU Democrats have more allies in the parliament to form the next government, Nikolic may be forced to propose Tadic as the next prime minister — a position more powerful than the presidency.