European Union ministers on Tuesday unanimously recommended that Serbia begin EU membership negotiations by the very latest in January 2014, as the former pariah state said it had done "everything to become a member of the European family".

A formal decision to open EU-Serbia talks will be handed down on Friday by EU heads of state and government, the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said.

EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton said early Friday that the premiers of Serbia and Kosovo made some headway towards normalizing ties, during overnight talks in Brussels.

In a statement issued after a six-hour meeting into the wee hours, Ashton said the Serbia and Kosovo prime ministers, Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaci, "agreed a number of open issues, in particular in the field of justice, police and upcoming municipal elections."

EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton said early Friday that the premiers of Serbia and Kosovo made some headway towards normalizing ties, during overnight talks in Brussels.

In a statement issued after a six-hour meeting into the wee hours, Ashton said the Serbia and Kosovo prime ministers, Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaci, "agreed a number of open issues, in particular in the field of justice, police and upcoming municipal elections."

The premiers of Serbia and Kosovo will hold fresh talks in Brussels on Thursday as the pair speed up efforts to normalize ties in a bid to win European Union support at a key summit next week.

Catherine Ashton, who heads EU foreign policy, said in a statement Monday she would meet the Serbia and Kosovo prime ministers, Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaci, to "discuss progress in the implementation" of an historic April deal to defuse tension in the last Balkans' trouble-spot.

Serbia's Prime Minister Ivica Dacic on Wednesday categorically ruled out the creation of a separate Serb state inside northern Kosovo and pledged instead to implement an historic deal to normalize ties between Belgrade and Pristina.

At a hearing of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, Dacic reiterated his government's intention to stand by a deal brokered by the EU on April 19 that has angered many of the 40,000 ethnic Serbs resident in northern Kosovo.

Serbia and Kosovo have adopted a roadmap on implementing their historic deal to normalize relations, taking another step key to their integration into the European Union, officials said on Monday.

The governments in Belgrade and Pristina both approved an implementation plan to their landmark EU-brokered deal reached in April for the former foes to normalize relations, officials said.

Germany on Monday called for "visible" progress in implementing a landmark deal between Serbia and Kosovo before securing Berlin's backing for Belgrade's bid to join the European Union.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle hailed the April 19 EU-brokered agreement to normalize ties between Serbia and its former southern province as "historic" but said momentum needed to be continued.

The prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo will meet in Brussels on May 21 for follow-up talks on an EU-brokered deal aimed at normalizing their ties, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's office said Tuesday.

Ashton "invited Prime Minister (Ivaca) Dacic and Prime Minister (Hashim) Thaci for a meeting next week, on 21 May, in Brussels, to discuss the joint steps they need to take for the implementation of the April agreement.

Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic Sunday urged Serbs living in northern Kosovo to accept an EU-brokered agreement to normalize relations between Serbia and its breakaway former province, while admitting the accord was not ideal.

The 40,000 Serbs make up the majority of residents of northern Kosovo and are largely opposed to the deal, which determines the amount of autonomy afforded to them in Kosovo, which proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008 -- a move never accepted by Belgrade.

More than 3,000 people protested Friday against an EU-brokered deal to normalize ties between Belgrade and breakaway Kosovo, seen by ultra-nationalists as Serbia's tacit recognition of its former foe's independence.

The protest was called by northern Kosovo Serb political leaders who, along with the ultra-nationalists, have fiercely opposed the implementation of the deal.