Ivica Dačić

Serbia's EU accession will not be slowed down by the early elections in Serbia, European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia David McAllister told the Danas daily.

The decision to hold parliamentary elections is part of the democratic process and is under the sole authority of Serbia, McAllister said.

The Serb Progressive Party (SNS) main board has backed by acclamation the decision to hold early parliamentary elections, Maja Gojkovic said on Sunday.

Gojkovic is one of vice-presidents of the party and president of Serbia's National Assembly.

First Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Thursday that he "understands Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic's considerations on holding elections."

Ivica Dacic said Tuesday he was not satisfied with the implementation of agreements reached between Belgrade and Pristina during EU-mediated talks in Brussels.

Ivica Dacic says the desecration of a Serbian Orthodox church in Pristina over the weekend provided yet more proof that "Kosovo is not fit for UNESCO."

Leaders of the two ruling parties in Serbia, Progressive chief Aleksandar Vucic and Socialist leader Ivica Dacic, have vowed not to form a grand coalition ahead of elections in the northern province of Vojvodina, leaving future arrangements to post-election negotiations.

"It is normal to talk with coalition partners in an election year - elections are the subject of talks with the SPS," an SNS vice president has said.

Ivica Dacic has told the N1 broadcaster that he invited Aleksandar Vucic to talks "on their future cooperation."

The foreign minister and SPS party leader at the same time "underscored that he would not like to stay in power with the Progressives at any price, but only if they shared the same strategic objective."

The ruling SNS party announced on Monday that its officials will on Tuesday afternoon meet with their coalition partners from the SPS.

The Progressives (SNS) are led by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, while his deputy in the cabinet and Serbia's foreign minister, Ivica Dacic, is the leader of the Socialists (SPS).

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has said the government will do "everything" to prevent Kosovo from joining the UN.

He told TV Pink that Belgrade "never assumed the obligation of achieving Kosovo's membership in international organizations, but that Kosovo's chances of that also depended on the method of decision-making in these organizations," Beta reported.