(BRUSSELS) - There is very little chance that EU foreign ministers will launch talks with Serbia on part of a key aid and trade pact, when they meet in Brussels next week, European diplomats said Thursday.

Earlier in the day Serbia said that the stalled pact on its European Union aspirations should be kickstarted as it had fully complied with a UN tribunal investigating war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

"We believe the time to act is now. We believe this is the time for the (interim agreement) process to be unfrozen," Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told reporters in Athens.

The interim agreement is part of the Stabilisation and Association Accord, a trade and aid pact seen as the first step toward European Union membership.

It has been signed by the 27 EU nations and endorsed by Serbia's parliament, but remains suspended, largely through Dutch insistence, until Belgrade demonstrates "full cooperation" with the Hague tribunal.

The chances are "very small" of the talks resuming, according to a Dutch diplomat.

He recalled comments made by his foreign minister Maxime Verhagen to The Hague court on Wednesday that "the interim accord could not be unblocked until there is full cooperation," from the Serbian authorities.

The court is demanding the arrest of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, who was believed to be in hiding in Serbia, and has been indicted for genocide.

Mladic -- along with the Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic, arrested in Belgrade in July -- was charged over the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

"I can hardly see the Netherlands budging," echoed another European diplomat following a preparatory meeting of EU ambassadors on the subject.

To encourage the pro-European Serb government of President Boris Tadic, the European Commission and most of the 27 EU member states favour the immediate implementation of the interim agreement -- basically a free-trade deal.

However unanimous agreement is required for even the interim deal and the Dutch, host of The Hague court, appear determined to see Mladic delivered first.

UN war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz visited Belgrade on Wednesday and Thursday to evaluate Serbia's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Brammertz may address the EU foreign ministers during their talks on Monday.

He would have to give a very positive assessment of the Serbian government's cooperation if the Netherlands is to be swayed.

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