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The decision was taken on Tuesday morning after Belgium and the Netherlands agreed to sign the SAA.

They yielded to the pressure of other EU states – who have been prepared to sign the agreement for weeks - on condition that Serbia will not get any concrete benefits from the agreement until Belgrade is judged as fully cooperating with the ICTY. Normally, ratification of such documents is launched immediately after they are signed.

Serbia has overcome another hurdle on its path towards EU membership with today's (9 September) ratification by its parliament of a key pre-accession agreement offering the country closer trade relations and easier travel within the Union.

140 deputies from the 250-seat parliament voted in favour of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), with 26 rejecting it. This means that at least 13 members of the opposition - likely members of the Liberal block, who support EU membership and for this goal would even sacrifice Kosovo - joined the government on this issue.The biggest opposition group, the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), collectively abstained. 

Serbia Matters presents policy essays on Serbia's post-Milosevic era written by internationally recognised authors, policymakers, academics and political analysts actively engaged in the Balkans discourse. Since 2000 Serbia has moved from a decade of wars and delayed transition towards European integration. The book assesses the country's present state of affairs, recent achievements and future challenges. It also offers pertinent analyses and compelling arguments as to why Serbia's accession to the European Union matters as much for Belgrade as it does for the whole Western Balkans. This book is written with the aim to persuade both Serbia's leaders and citizens and those Member States of the European Union who are hit by 'enlargement fatigue' that the country ought to have its rightful place in the EU and that there is no alternative to the reform process. Das Werk ist Teil der Reihe Southeast European Integration Perspectives, Band 1.

The Commission presented new measures on 5 March to accelerate EU pre-accession preparations with all the Western Balkan countries, including visa liberalisation, negotiations on a 'Transport Community' and better funding for education exchange.

Regarding Bosnia, the Commission hopes that the Stabilisation and Association Agreement will be signed by EU ministers this April (EurActiv 29/02/08). Rehn said the main condition, cooperation with the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), had reached "a generally satisfactory level".  Rehn also reiterated the clear membership perspective for Kosovo and Serbia, saying that the latter plays a "key role" in the region. The Commissioner, however, urged Serbia to reaffirm its European commitment, responding to moves by leading Serbian politicians to reject deeper EU relations unless the bloc supports Serbia's claim to Kosovo. 

Links European Union Commission: Communication on the Western Balkans: Enhancing the European Perspective (5 March 2008) Commission: Press release: Western Balkans: enhancing the European perspective

As the EU prepares to assume responsibility for policing Kosovo from the UN, French and British diplomats have warned Serbia that its strong opposition to the EU mission and its decision to seize the UN International Court of Justice over the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence could complicate the country's EU membership bid.

Kosovo Serbs have inaugurated their own parliament with a declaration that Kosovo is a part of Serbia, defying criticism from the UN and ethnic Albanian leaders that the assembly is illegal.

The delegates present at the session further said that the perceived "urgent need to protect their lives, rights, freedoms, dignity, identity, integrity, culture and property, and rejecting illegal secessionist acts," was the reason why the assembly was created.The assembly, the declaration adds, is a representative body for the citizens of Serbia in this province, that will work in publicly and aim to steer and harmonize the work of its member-municipalities. The assembly has the right to send draft laws to the Serbian parliament, on those issues that are relevant to the residents of Kosovo. However the assembly has no executive authority but reflects a deepening ethnic partition of Kosovo since its Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia in February, backed by the West but opposed by Belgrade and its ally Russia.

Serbia is stepping up its resistance towards the idea of Kosovo becoming independent, with the country's prime minister Vojislav Kostunica sending a clear warning to the European Union - either it backs Belgrade or Pristina.

"The EU must choose...whether it will sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia or, under the United States' pressure, send a mission to implement [a plan for] supervised independence of Kosovo, snatching part of Serbia's territory", the statement says.

EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn has called on Serbia to refrain from linking its EU integration process to demands on the Kosovo issue.

But Commissioner Rehn said such linkages should not be made. "It is disappointing that the Stabilisation and Association Agreement is misrepresented in the Serbian political debate," Mr Rehn told Reuters in an interview. "It is sad that Serbia's European future is being offered up on the altar of domestic power games," he continued.