By David Brunnstrom
The two sides were to have signed the deal on trade, visas and education on Thursday but Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica denounced it as a trick on Tuesday, bringing Belgrade's ruling coalition close to collapse.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Kostunica had gone back on a longstanding understanding not to link Serbia's EU ties to Kosovo, for which the EU on Monday authorised a supervisory mission ahead of an independence declaration seen this month.
Rehn said he was disappointed Kostunica had reneged on an understanding he said he made with the Serbian prime minister 18 months ago not to link Serbia's EU ties to Kosovo's fate.
EU foreign ministers offered the deal last week as Belgrade failed to meet the key condition for taking a formal first step towards Serbian EU membership -- full cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Tadic was re-elected on a pledge of pursuing EU membership no matter what happens with Kosovo, where the 90-percent Albanian majority is set to declare independence this month with the West's backing.
Rehn said the EU pact with Serbia remained on the table, adding that the 27-nation bloc remained ready to sign the broader Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), a prelude to membership, when Belgrade met the political conditions.
