Serbia's pro-European president, Boris Tadic, faces ultra-nationalist candidate Tomislav Nikolic, in a Feb. 3 race for the presidency. In the first round of voting, Nikolic scored five percentage points higher than Tadic.
Serbian officials want to sign the pre-entry agreement in Brussels on Jan. 28, but E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Monday it was too early to say if the E.U. would sign the agreement.
The E.U. has been demanding that Serbia first arrest Gen. Ratko Mladic and other fugitives for extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
Jeremic noted that Serbia had handed over 42 of 46 indicted criminals sought by The Hague court, including three former presidents, army officials and other former dignitaries. But it has been unable to apprehend Mladic - who is believed to be hiding in Serbia and is wanted on genocide charges in connection with atrocities of Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
Serbia is "fully cooperating with the Hague tribunal," Jeremic said.
Signing the E.U. agreement next week in Brussels "has an influence in Serbia and (influences) the upcoming elections," he said, but also warned that the runoff would be decisive about whether Serbia continued its course toward joining the bloc.
Tadic, who has supported extradition of Mladic, advocates quick integration into the E.U., following years of isolation under late autocratic President Slobodan Milosevic.
His nationalist challenger, Nikolic, considers Mladic a hero and has repeatedly said he would not hand over the former general to the U.N. tribunal.
Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu said the presidential runoff would "confirm the long term commitment of Serbia" to the E.U., which Romania joined in 2007.
He denied any link between Serbia's E.U. aspirations and issue of Kosovo's future status. Romania is one of several E.U. members opposing independence for the province, frustrating the European Commission, which is urging consensus in the bloc on the Kosovo issue.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership is largely expected to declare independence from Serbia next month. Many E.U. countries, as well as the United States, have said they support the declaration. Serbia and its ally Russia oppose it.
"We are ready to discuss any solution that will preserve the territorial integrity of Serbia," Jeremic said.
Kosovo has been under U.N. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization administration since the 1999