 European Union leaders, worried that Kosovo's push for independence could trigger instability in the Balkans, were set to offer Serbia a fast-track route to joining the bloc at a summit on Friday. A day after signing a treaty to end a long institutional stalemate, the leaders switched focus to challenges posed by the Balkans -- a test of the EU's new hopes of strengthening its foreign policy clout -- and by globalisation and immigration. The leaders were due to say that Serbia should be offered an accelerated path towards EU membership, once Belgrade meets the conditions to sign a first-level agreement on closer ties. "It reiterated its confidence that progress on the road towards the EU, including candidate status, can be accelerated," a draft copy of the summit communique obtained by Reuters said. It also said talks on the breakaway Serbian province had been exhausted, the status quo was untenable and a settlement of Kosovo's future status was essential for Balkan stability. Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen called the draft statement "a major step in the right direction". Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht pointed to the lessons of the 1990s Balkans wars, saying: "We have seen what happened in former Yugoslavia when the European Union did not take things in hand." A handful of EU states -- Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia and Romania -- remain reluctant to recognise an independence declaration expected early next year. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed the announcement this week of a Serbian presidential election on Jan. 20. The election will give voters a say on whether Serbia should move closer to the EU or protest at its role in Kosovo. "We are very pleased and support the decision ... calling for presidential elections in Serbia and as you know we are in a position in our minds that the final status of Kosovo has to be resolved," he told reporters. The draft also showed the EU leaders were set to say they were ready to tighten sanctions on Myanmar if the country's military rulers do not ease repression. FOCUS ON CHALLENGES In addition to foreign policy issues, the leaders were due to address public concern over the strain on European job markets from immigration and cheap imports, issues on which the EU hopes to focus now that the new Lisbon Treaty has been inked. "The Union will be able to fully concentrate on the concrete challenges ahead, including globalisation and climate change...," the draft final communique said. Replacing the more ambitious constitution abandoned after French and Dutch voters rejected it in 2005, the Lisbon Treaty preserves most of the key institutional reforms but drops contentious symbols of statehood such as a flag and anthem. EU leaders hope the treaty will streamline the bloc's structures to cope with enlargement after it opened its doors to 12 mostly ex-communist states in 2004 and 2007. Critics say it will curb national sovereignty and put more power in Brussels. Friday's summit is due to agree on a mandate for a "reflection group" on the bloc's long-term future, naming a chairperson for the panel who will select the other members by next March and report conclusions to EU leaders in June 2010. A spokesman for EU president Portugal declined to comment on candidates, but a source close to the negotiations said former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and former European Parliament chief Pat Cox were in contention for the role. The chairman of phone giant Nokia, Jorma Ollila, was also expected to join the panel, diplomats said. Other figures mentioned as possible members of the group, likely to number at most nine people, are Dutch soccer hero Johann Cruyff and European trade union leader John Monks. Talks on how the EU should deal with globalisation will be closely followed for how they reconcile the free trade approach of countries such as Britain with the French view of protecting home-grown industries from cheap imports.