Michal Simecka

BRUSSELS - Serbian Deputy Parliament Speaker Elvira Kovac urged European Parliament members on Tuesday to open new clusters in Serbia's EU accession talks to give the country impetus in the process.

Kovac and a delegation of 20 Serbian MPs who are in their first terms as members of the National Assembly are in Brussels for a two-day study visit to the European Parliament.

On an unusually brisk afternoon in May, European flags fluttered alongside anti-fascist banners in Bratislava's old town on the banks of the Danube.

Demonstrators were protesting a meeting of European far-right parties in the Slovak capital ahead of this month's EU elections.

"Freedom is more than a nation," one placard read. "Fascists, entry forbidden," said another.