Serbia and Romania have signed a treaty on the protection of minorities, removing the possibility that Romania might be tempted to veto the granting of an EU candidate status to its neighbor.

"The fact that we have today this agreement is a victory of an efficient style of making diplomacy", a spokesman for the ruling Liberal Party PDL, Sever Voinescu, said in Bucharest, as cited by DPA.

The European Council summit starting Thursday night in Brussels is to grant Serbia EU candidate status, after the Balkan country complied with the bloc's request to strike cooperation deals with its former province Kosovo.

The EU leaders were expected to sign off on the decision over dinner and announce it formally on Friday, diplomats said.

The move will bring Serbia just a little closer to the EU. Croatia - which is expected to enter the bloc in 2013 - will have taken nine years to go from EU candidate to EU member.

Romania had threatened to block Serbia's membership bid at an EU ministerial meeting on Tuesday, complaining about the treatment of the ethnically Romanian Wallachian minority by its Balkan neighbor.

DPA notes that the unexpected hiccup irritated EU partners, with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle speaking Tuesday of "very difficult and drawn-out negotiations."

Diplomats have stressed the EU's desire to reward Serbia's pro-western president Boris Tadic ahead of parliamentary elections expected in late April or early May. Tadic's Democratic Party is currently trailing in the polls.

In 2008, the signature of an EU trade and association deal, as well as a big investment announcement by Italian carmaker Fiat, helped Tadic defeat his nationalist challenger Tomislav Nikolic in presidential elections.

Last week, Serbia agreed to let Kosovo take part in Balkan meetings and to implement a previous border deal in EU-brokered talks.

"Serbia needs this signal from us," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said at a pre-summit meeting in Brussels of the conservative European People's Party.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, speaking at the same event, warned that the EU risked being not credible if it did not reward Serbia after it had done what it had been asked to do.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!