BELGRADE, Serbia-Since he succeeded strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, Vojislav Kostunica has come full circle, from a symbol of change to the main obstacle for Serbia's entry into the EU.

Back in 2000, the low-key law professor and anti-communist dissident seemed to be a breath of fresh air for the troubled Serbs, promising to end the nation's status as an international pariah and turn it into a "normal country."

Riding a wave of popular revolt against Milosevic, Kostunica, with his ordinary-man appeal, became one of the most popular politicians ever in the Balkan country, winning a unique chance to lead his nation to a new start.

"I will not let power change me," Kostunica told the hopeful Serbs as he took his presidential oath in 2000.

But it turned out Kostunica was little of what he promised to be.

Eight years after the anti-Milosevic uprising, Kostunica, now prime minister, is no longer popular, rarely appears in public, and is often compared to the man he ousted from power.

Recent public opinion polls put the popularity of his Democratic Party of Serbia at between 7-10 percent, barely above the five percent minimum threshold a party needs for representation in the legislature.

Many blame the prime minister for the slow improvement of living standards and for not cracking down on hard enough on corruption.

Surrounded by a team of right-wing, nationalist advisers, Kostunica has established a tight grip on power in Serbia. This includes control over key media, police and state security.

Depicted as the "New Milosevic" by his critics, Kostunica has revived the former leader's angry, nationalist policies, skillfully outmaneuvering his pro-Western rivals.

Despite widespread disappointment among former supporters and friends, and plummeting popularity, Kostunica has not wavered in his nationalist path.

Dragan Bujosevic, a prominent Belgrade journalist who has known him for years, now writes: "I no longer trust Vojislav Kostunica. He has become all he pledged he would never be."

Critics cite a long list of Kostunica failures since 2000.

They say he undermined pro-Western reforms from the very start, by preventing a purge of Milosevic's henchmen from key positions, and siding with the paramilitaries who assassinated his principal foe, reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003.

Kostunica's policy shift was particularly visible since the ethnic Albanian leadership in of Serbia's breakaway region of Kosovo declared independence, winning quick recognition from the United States and most EU nations.

This triggered a furious nationalist reaction in Serbia, which many say was whipped up by Kostunica and his extremist allies. They denounced the West with the same rabble-rousing rhetoric once used by Milosevic.

In his recent speeches, Serbia's prime minister has blasted "destructive, brutal and immoral policies of force imposed by the United States," or sought to persuade the Serbs that "the West ... wants to humiliate Serbia."

While lashing out at the West, Kostunica failed to criticize Milosevic's policies of terror in Kosovo, which in 1999 triggered a NATO-led air war that ended Serbia's rule over the region.

In the latest blow to the pro-democracy Serbs, Kostunica this week appeared to be forming a political alliance with the ultranationalists Radical Party which loyally served Milosevic.

Together, they have been trying to get parliament to adopt a resolution making Serbia's path toward EU membership conditional on the bloc rejecting Kosovo's independence.

Kostunica cited the need to defend Serbia's continuing claim to Kosovo as the reason for the alliance with the extremists. But liberals say he is just trying to cling on to power at any price, just like Milosevic once did.

"He is widely despised now," says Vesna Pesic, from the Liberal Democratic Party.