BELGRADE, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Serbia's new government decided on Thursday to reinstate its ambassadors withdrawn from European Union countries that recognized Kosovo's independence.

    The pro-EU government, which was sworn in on July 7, unanimously decided to reinstate 13 ambassadors to the EU countries in a bid to help Serbia's attempts to join the 27-country bloc, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told reporters after Thursday's meeting of the cabinet.

    The new gesture comes after Serbia moved closer to overcoming its biggest obstacle to EU integration three days ago, when its security forces arrested former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, one of three remaining war crimes suspects.

    Serbia's full cooperation with the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is a precondition for advancing along the long road to EU membership, which it hopes to achieve in2012 at the earliest.

    Speaking at a news conference after the government session, Serbian Environment Minister Oliver Dulic said that the decision had been made in order to improve the country's diplomatic position and pave the way for a wider diplomatic action.

    "With this, we want to balance two priorities which we have put before us - one to continue with the fight for Kosovo and the other to intensify the process of European integration," he said.

    In line with the decision, Serbia will be represented again at ambassador level in all EU countries, except Poland and Denmark, for which ambassadors have not been appointed yet.

    The withdrawal of the ambassadors was a protest measure by the former Serbian government headed by Vojislav Kostunica toward the countries that recognized the independence of Serbia's ethnic Albanian-dominated province.

    Kosovo's statehood, which was unilaterally declared on Feb. 17 this year, has been recognized by 43 countries, including the United States, 20 EU member states, some Middle Eastern and Asian countries.

    Serbian ambassadors, who were withdrawn "for consultations," will come back next week to Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, and Great Britain.

    The return of ambassadors to those 13 countries will also cover five EU countries where Serbia has ambassadors without a seat -- Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ireland, and Luxembourg -- as well as Malta, which has not recognized Kosovo yet.

    Serbia did not withdraw ambassadors from six EU countries which did not recognize Kosovo -- Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain.

    Jeremic announced the proposal for ambassadors' return last Sunday, with the explanation that it "will increase Serbia's diplomatic capacities, so that by the end of the year it can gain EU membership candidate status and enable citizens to travel to EU countries without a visa."

    The announcement was vehemently attacked on Monday by the parliamentary opposition, the Radicals, and former premier Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, whose MP, former minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic, dubbed the move "capitulation."

    At the moment, Serbia has no plans to return its ambassador to non-EU states that recognized Kosovo.

    "A similar decision on a possible return of remaining ambassadors will not be made until the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has given its consultative view on the legality of decision on the declaration of independence of Kosovo-Metohija," Dulic said.