EU postpones association agreement with Serbia[fr][de] 

Instead of signing the SAA , which is seen as a first step towards candidate status for EU membership, the EU-27 ministers committed, on 28 January 2008, to signing an agreement to liberalise trade between Serbia and the EU. The agreement will also make visa rules easier for Serbs travelling to the EU and increase co-operation on education between the two parties. It is expected to be signed on 7 February 2008, following the decisive round of elections on 3 February.

The EU initialled negotiations on the SAA with Serbia on 7 November 2007, but the Commission and certain EU member states object to signing any agreement until Serbia cooperates fully with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague and extradites former war criminals such as Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander wanted on genocide charges.

The first round of Serbian presidential elections on 21 January saw the pro-Russian nationalist Tomislav Nikolic of the Serbian Radical Party win 39.6% of the vote, while his main competitor, the incumbent pro-Western Boris Tadic of the Democratic Party, took 35.5%. 

The elections are taking place as the prospect of a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo, a Serb province, becomes ever more imminent. Both presidential candidates oppose an independent Kosovo, but while Nikolic takes a more radical stance and favours closer ties with Russia (which so far has defended Serbian opposition to Kosovo's independence), Tadic is seen as the more liberal and pro-European candidate. 

EU member states have long been struggling to reach common ground on the future of Kosovo. Although most member states are in favour of its independence, others, including Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Slovakia, are reluctant as they fear that it would set a legal precedent with knock-on effects for minorities in their own countries.