By Aleksandar Vasovic and Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Serbia agreed to cede its last remaining foothold in the country's former province of Kosovo on Friday, striking an historic accord to settle relations in exchange for talks on joining the European Union. The deal, brokered by the EU, capped six months of delicate negotiations and marks a milestone for the region's recovery from the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Kosovo and Serbia will resume talks in Brussels on Friday following another failure to clinch a deal to normalise ties and ease tension in the Balkans, officials here said. The Kosovo delegation, which was on its way home after the failed 11th-hour talks on Wednesday, returned to Brussels for the new meeting, the Pristina government said Thursday. The negotiators "returned back from the airport in Ljubljana to Brussels to continue meetings" with the Serbian delegation after a request from EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the government said in a statement.

By Justyna Pawlak and Fatos Bytyci BRUSSELS/PRISTINA (Reuters) - The European Union gave Serbia a last chance to clinch membership talks with the bloc on Tuesday, summoning the Balkan country to new negotiations on ending the ethnic partition of its former Kosovo province. With speculation rife that a deal might be near, the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, delayed a report on Serbia's readiness to start accession talks.

The EU said Monday the latest round of talks it sponsors between Serbia and Kosovo, aimed at defusing tensions in one of Europe's last trouble-spots, had made good progress and they would meet again later this month. EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton said a sixth series of talks she chaired with Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Premier Hashim Thaci "made good progress. "There will be some work done between now and 20 March 2013 when we will meet again," Ashton said in a statement.