The EU will sign a pact on closer ties with Serbia on Tuesday, according to the Slovenian EU presidency.
A spokesman said the Stabilisation and Association Agreement would be signed at 1600 (1400 GMT) after a deal Envoys walk out of UN after Libya Holocaust remark ...
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Both countries insist that Belgrade must fully co-operate with the Hague war crimes tribunal before Serbia enjoys the benefits of a pact.
But they say Serbia should be sent a message before elections on 11 May.
Nationalist parties are ahead in the opinion polls, following Kosovo's declaration of independence and its recognition by a majority of EU member states.
Signing the SAA would not only pave the way to full membership but give Serbs closer trade relations and more relaxed visa requirements.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic paid a surprise visit to Luxembourg on Monday in an attempt to press the Slovenian EU presidency to reach an agreement on offering the deal.
But the Netherlands and Belgium objected to Serbia being rewarded with a deal before it was considered to have fully co-operated with the war-crimes tribunal.
They insist that Serbia should hand over two war crimes suspects wanted in connection with the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica: Bosnian Serb ex-army leader Ratko Mladic and war-time political leader Radovan Karadzic.
A spokesman for Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told the BBC News website on Tuesday that the signing of an SAA and an interim accord to implement the details of it could take place but only if the agreements were "simultaneously suspended".
"If anything is signed today, it will have to mean that Serbia will not enjoy any of the benefits of the SAA," the spokesman said.
But he added that would change as soon as the foreign ministers were happy that Belgrade was co-operating fully with the tribunal.
(BBC)
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