EU and Serbia sign pact on closer ties before polls

By David Brunnstrom and Mark John

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Serbia signed a long-delayed pact on closer ties with the European Union on Tuesday, a first step towards eventual membership, days before a parliamentary election.

The accord had been held up over Serbia's failure to arrest and hand over key war crime indictees such as wartime Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, charged with genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.

Under a compromise proposed by the Netherlands and Belgium, the 27 EU states agreed not to ratify the pact nor give Serbia its trade or aid benefits until all agree that Belgrade is fully cooperating with the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

But the EU hopes signing the pact will bolster President Boris Tadic's pro-Western reformers in the May 11 election. Polls currently show nationalists have a slight lead, boosted by anger at the Western-backed secession of Kosovo in February.

"We have sent today a very strong signal from the EU to Serbia and the Serb people ... that the EU wants Serbia to join the European family," said Dimitrij Rupel, foreign minister of EU president Slovenia.

"It is undoubtedly the right decision, particularly as Serbia faces a big choice over the next few weeks domestically, that the EU makes it very clear Serbia has a European home," said Britain's Europe minister Jim Murphy.

Separately, the EU failed to agree on another tough issue -- a mandate to start long-stalled partnership negotiations with Russia -- after Lithuania demanded assurances on energy security and other Russian policies.