BRUSSELS, January 28 (RIA Novosti) - Foreign ministers of the European Union's 27 member states will hold discussions on Monday on whether to sign a trade pact with Serbia opening up the Balkan country's path to EU membership.
The talks come at a critical time for Serbia, with a pro-European and a pro-Russian candidate set to face off in a second presidential election round, and the country's breakaway province of Kosovo likely to declare its independence within weeks.
While most EU states support the signing of a Stabilization and Association Agreement on trade and cooperation with Belgrade, a deal that could quell mounting anti-Western sentiment in Serbia and boost incumbent leader Boris Tadic's chances of re-election, the Netherlands and Belgium have insisted that Belgrade first track down key war crimes suspects.
The two EU members accuse Serbia of failing to cooperate with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague in finding and arresting Ratko Mladic, accused of ordering the massacre of around 7,000 Bosnian Muslims during the during the 1992-95 Bosnian civil war.
Serbs will chose between Tadic and nationalist challenger Tomislav Nikolic at a February 3 election run-off. In Sunday's first voting round, Radical Party leader Nikolic, seen as an anti-Western far-right figure, gained a five-point advantage, sparking concerns in the EU. Although the president's powers are limited in Serbia, the office has important symbolic significance.
The nationalist candidate's drive for the presidency has been boosted by the ongoing dispute over Kosovo, to which Serbia refuses to grant independence. Belgrade's position has received strong support from long-time ally Moscow, which has said Kosovo will never be a fully legitimate state, and that Russia cannot support an "immoral" declaration of independence.
The Albanian-dominated province has been a UN protectorate since the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict between Albanian and Serb forces in 1999.
The foreign ministers' talks in Brussels will be chaired by Dimitrij Rupel, the foreign minister of Slovenia, which assumed the EU presidency at the start of this year.
The diplomats are also likely to discuss other international issues including Iran's nuclear program and escalating violence in Kenya.
