BRUSSELS, Belgium-The European Union urged Serbia on Monday to quickly form a new pro-Western government, which it said would help the country move quickly toward EU membership.

The EU noted that voters had given the pro-Western party of President Boris Tadic a wide victory margin to justify its running government.

But as Tadic's Coalition for a European Serbia appeared assured only 103 seats, short of an outright majority in the 250-seat parliament, it could face a challenge from the far-right rivals who have vowed to form a coalition to govern.

It is still unclear which parties might muster the 126-seat coalition needed, but the result will be critical to Serbia's relations with the EU.

The EU said it hoped for a government with a clear European agenda, saying the election result had given pro-EU forces a "clear victory."

"We look forward to working with a new government formed on this mandate," said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the bloc was "ready to accelerate Serbia's EU course," though he did not mention the bloc's remaining condition that Belgrade first hunt down two indicted war criminals and deliver them to the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

The new government's priority should be "to complete full cooperation" with the U.N. court, said Slovenian lawmaker Jelko Kacin, who is in charge of the European Parliament's evaluation reports on Serbia. "Only this will pave the way for Serbia to progress further toward the EU; toward candidate status and eventual EU membership."

The EU signed a pre-membership trade-and-aid pact with Serbia before the elections, to take effect when Belgrade fully cooperates with the tribunal.

Tadic has called for Serbia to officially be made an EU candidate country by year's end.

In Paris, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France would "work toward making Serbia's European prospects a reality."

"The Serbs know that they can count on Europe and on France," he said.