Belgrade - Serbia's parliament Monday suspended for two weeks debate on a pre-membership treaty with the European Union after days of filibustering by the hardline nationalist opposition.

Parliament speaker Slavica Djukic Dejanovic called for the pause in hopes that Serbia's governing pro-Western coalition and the opposition can negotiate an end to the impasse over the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA).

Ratifying the SAA is needed for Serbia to move toward the EU and Belgrade's goal of obtaining candidate status in 2009, although Brussels conditioned its approval on full Serb cooperation with the Hague-based UN war crimes.

Lawmakers were also scheduled to adopt a resolution on Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in February, a move backed by the United States and most European countries but rejected by Russia and Serbia as illegal.

The opposition charge that the governing coalition breached parliamentary rules by putting Kosovo as the last item of the debate.

Opposition lawmakers also criticized Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic's proposal for Serbia to send back the diplomats it pulled out of EU capitals that recognized independence of Kosovo. (dpa)