By David Brunnstrom
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union said on Wednesdayit will not sign a pact on ties with Serbia this week asplanned, after Belgrade's nationalist prime minister blockedthe move.
The two sides were to have signed the deal on trade, visasand education on Thursday but Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunicadenounced it as a trick on Tuesday, bringing Belgrade's rulingcoalition close to collapse.
Kostunica said the pact was a sop to Serbia by the EuropeanUnion for the imminent loss of the breakaway province ofKosovo.
EU Commissioner Olli Rehn accused Kostunica of going backon a longstanding understanding not to link Serbia's EU ties toKosovo, for which the EU on Monday authorised a supervisorymission ahead of an independence declaration seen this month.
"With this blockage, certain politicians are in a wayfiling for a divorce before the marriage has yet even beenagreed," Rehn told a news briefing. "I find that...ratherregrettable."
"It is truly sad for Serbia that politicians continue toput power games ahead of their own citizens' interests," headded, saying that Kostunica had agreed some 18 months ago notto link Serbia's EU ties to Kosovo's fate.
EU foreign ministers offered the deal last week to preventa nationalist backlash in Sunday's presidential election,narrowly won by pro-EU incumbent Boris Tadic over a pro-Russianchallenger.
Rehn and Slovenia, current holder of the EU's rotatingpresidency said the proposed pact with Serbia remained on thetable.
"The presidency hopes that Serbia will soon positivelyrespond to the European offer, which would enable the signingof the agreement in the following days," Slovenia said in astatement late on Wednesday.
Rehn said the 27-nation bloc also remained ready to signthe broader Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), aprelude to membership, when Belgrade met the politicalconditions -- full cooperation with the U.N. war crimestribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Tadic was re-elected on a pledge of pursuing EU membershipno matter what happens with Kosovo, where the 90-percent ethnicAlbanian majority is set to declare independence this monthwith the West's backing.
Former U.S. ambassador to Serbia, William Montgomery, saidthis week Kostunica seemed determined to force the EU to choosebetween its plans for Kosovo and its relationship with Serbia.
It was hard to see how the impasse could end in any wayother than a breakdown in the coalition, he said.
(Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing byStephen Weeks)