The European Unions council of foreign ministers, scheduled to meet in Luxembourg on April 28, is set to officially offer Serbia to sign a stabilisation and association agreement, the first step towards full membership in the bloc, Serbian daily Vecernje novosti reported on April 11, as quoted by Bulgarian news agency (BTA).

The EU could extend an invitation to this effect already next week, the daily claimed. According to unnamed sources quoted by the newspaper, Serbian president Boris Tadic is ready to sign the agreement.

“It is almost certain that Tadic will accept the offer. The Serbian president will refer to the Vienna convention, according to which a head of state is entitled to signing international agreements,” sources told the newspaper on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
 
As an alternative, a signatory to the agreement could be Serbian deputy prime minister Bozidar Djelic, who would refer to the rights he was given by the Serbian government on December 6 last year.

The deputy head of the nationalist Serbian Radical Party, Tomislav Nikolic, defeated by Tadic in the presidential run-off earlier this year, said that the signing of the SAA would be a “promotional and campaign trick” and added that the move should get parliamentary approval.

The timing of the offer is crucial, with Serbia set to hold snap parliamentary elections on May 11, after prime minister Vojislav Kostunica resigned over disagreements with his coalition partners on the issue of Serbia's future policy on Kosovo.

G17+ and Serbian Renewal Movement (SRM), the two parties backing Tadic on Kosovo and his efforts to foster closer ties with the EU, sided with the president, saying that the agreement should be signed immediately.