(BELGRADE) - The European parliament's rapporteur for Serbia, Jelko Kacin, on Tuesday called on the government in Belgrade to promptly ratify an accord on closer EU ties, Beta news agency reported.

Serbia's ratification of the EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) has been stalled by political turmoil despite the swearing in on July 7 of a new government that favours speedy integration with the 27-nation bloc.

"Without the ratification of the SAA in the Serbian parliament, a (positive) report on Serbia's progress towards EU rapprochement will not enter into procedure," Kacin was quoted as saying by Beta.

Kacin, a Slovenian member of the European Parliament, was speaking to journalists in the Serbian capital after meeting with the heads of the main parties from the former Yugoslav republic's parliament.

The assembly, which is dominated by pro-European forces led by President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party (DS), is expected to debate and ratify the SAA at its next meeting early next month.

Its work, however, was suspended after several days of obstruction by the opposition ultra-nationalist Radical Party and Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) of former nationalist prime minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Belgrade hopes to join the European Union by 2014, according to the latest target date set by Bozidar Djelic, Serbia's deputy prime minister for EU integration.

The European Union had offered to sign the SAA with Serbia as a show of support for pro-EU parties on the eve of May 11 elections, a move that later proved to have boosted support for Tadic's pro-Western forces.

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