Cyprus, Greece Hungary Romania and Spain also voted no.

A two-thirds majority (33 of 45) sent the application to the next stage anyway — a vote by the parliamentary assembly of the Council, for which a date has not yet been set.

The Serbian no vote looks like a violation of an EU-sponsored agreement on normalising relations. This accord was sealed in marathon discussions with EU Foreign Relations Chief Josep Borrell last month in Ohrid, North Macedonia. Its article four states: “Serbia won’t object to Kosovo membership in any international organization.”

The Ohrid agreement was verbally agreed but not signed.

The EU Foreign Service “took notice” of Serbia’s CoE on Tuesday but dismissed the notion that it would put the larger deal at risk.

Borrell’s spokesperson said that the agreement was still alive, because it is being carried forward.

The spokesman said that the Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic will meet with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti next week in Brussels to resolve differences.

The EU spokesperson said that Vucic’s “high-level commitment” to the Ohrid agreement rendered the non-signature irrelevant.

He said that the implementation of this plan would determine whether or not further progress could be made towards EU membership, including future EU financing. “It is a matter or credibility,” he said.

Vucic, for his part has redoubled his efforts in the CoE campaign.

He said in a press conference held on Tuesday that Serbia would review the recognition of territorial integrity of countries who abstained from voting (such as Ukraine), or voted for (such as Montenegro), Kosovo’s membership.

“Why should we respect someone else’s territorial integrity if they do not respect ours?” “, he said.

Kosovo was liberated from Serbian control 25 years ago in a bloody civil war. It is now recognized by 101 countries but Serbia still considers it one of its provinces.

The CoE dispute comes after tense local election results in Kosovo last weekend.

The Kosovar Serbs did not vote, allowing ethnic Albanians the victory, despite street patrols of Nato troops in majority Serb areas.

In a statement, the EU “regretted”, while Kurti blamed Serbian interference.

“The threatening campaigns orchestrated by Belgrade, and executed by intimidation, blackmail and pressure by criminal groups… led to a very low turnout,” said he.

Vucic said, “I am afraid that this is the prelude to a deeper crisis”.

He said he “expects nothing” from the meeting he will have with Kurti, Borrell and others in Brussels next Monday.

The turbulence follows Milorad Dodik’s renewed calls to create a greater Serbia and split from Bosnia.

No one will stop us [Serbs] It is our right to unite, and it is also our history. The last century was a century of Serbian suffering and this century is a century of Serbian unity,” Dodik said on Monday at a WW2 Memorial Ceremony in Republika srpska with Vucic.

“Serbs won’t survive in these areas” if Republika Srpska doesn’t become independent in the next few years, he added.

Vucic didn’t comment on unification during the event. The EU spokesperson said on Tuesday that the situations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo are “not connected”.