(Recasts with statement) By David Brunnstrom and Marja Novak BRUSSELS/LJUBLJANA, May 11 (Reuters) - The European Union welcomed what it called a "clear victory" of the pro-EU Democrats in Serbia's election on Sunday and said it meant Serbia would move faster towards EU membership, if it met conditions. A statement from the Slovenian EU presidency said it hoped for the quick formation of a government with a "clear European agenda". "Provided that the necessary conditions are met ... this should enable Serbia to advance further on its EU path, including the candidate status," it said. Serbia's pro-European Union president, Boris Tadic, claimed victory over his main nationalist rival in the parliamentary election, but was short of the number of seats needed to form a governing majority. His nationalist opponent said he had no right to claim victory yet. The poll was fought on whether Serbs should swallow their anger over EU support for the independence of Kosovo, the Serb province which seceded in February, or turn their backs on the bid for EU membership, Tadic's top priority. The independent monitoring organisation CESID said Tadic's Democratic Party and two smaller allies were set to take about 39 percent of the vote, against 28.6 percent for the nationalist Radicals of opposition leader Tomislav Nikolic. The projection would give Tadic's coalition around 103 seats in the 250-seat assembly. But Nikolic's Radicals could form a larger bloc with like-minded parties, which together were projected to be close to an overall majority with 48.4 percent. It was not yet clear whether the small Liberal Democratic Party had managed to cross the 5 percent threshold needed for seats. If not, Tadic would lose a vital potential ally. EU officials have said that if the nationalists come to power, Serbia's progress to membership would face long delays. The European Union sees eventual Serbian membership as vital to security in the Balkans and Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel expressed delight at the election in a telephone interview with Reuters. "The pro-European side in Serbia won, which was what we were aiming for in the European Union," he said. "It seems that Tadic's Democrats will have a more important role, which makes me very happy. "This means that Serbia will move forward ever faster to membership of the EU, and that the terrible episode of the Yugoslav war in the 1990s is forgotten; that people in southeastern Europe will be able to live together without prejudice." The 27 existing EU states, seeing Serbian membership as vital for stability in the Balkans, overcame internal differences last month to sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement that is the first step towards joining the EU. However its implementation remains frozen until Serbia fully cooperates with the U.N. war crimes tribunal. Brussels has also offered Serbs a visa facilitation deal which was implicitly conditional on a Democrat win. (Writing by David Brunnstrom)
An activist of the "self-determination" political movement protests against Serbia's local and parlimentary elections in Pristina May 9, 2008. Parliamentary and local elections in Serbia are scheduled in Kosovo for May ...
