EU diplomatic sources say objections raised by Lithuania, Poland and Romania are not serious enough to stop ministers recommending that Serbia gets official candidate status.
French foreign minister Alain Juppe jumped the gun on Monday (27 February) by telling press in Brussels one hour before internal talks on Serbia that the Balkan country is heading for the upgrade.
"There was an agreement today ... At least, there were no further objections," he said.
Lithuania, Poland ...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.