BRUSSELS - Fresh from ending a decade-long institutional stalemate with a new reform treaty, EU leaders will turn on Friday to the "real world" challenges of globalisation, immigration and tensions in the Balkans.

A day after signing a pact aimed at overhauling the bloc's outgrown structures at an elaborate ceremony in Lisbon, leaders of the EU's 27 states will be determined to show in Brussels that the navel-gazing is over.

Concerned about instability in the Balkans caused by Kosovo's push for independence, the leaders were due to say that Serbia should be offered an accelerated path towards joining the EU, according to a draft summit declaration seen by Reuters.

They will also raise the prospect of tougher sanctions on military-ruled Myanmar, the draft showed, and seek to address public concern over the strain on European job markets from immigration and cheap imports.

"The Lisbon Treaty provides the Union with a stable institutional framework for the foreseeable future," EU leaders will agree, according to an early draft of the final communique.

"The Union will be able to fully concentrate on the concrete challenges ahead," it promises.

Replacing the more ambitious constitution abandoned after French and Dutch voters rejected it in 2005, the Lisbon Treaty preserves most of the key institutional reforms but drops contentious symbols of statehood such as a flag and anthem.

EU leaders hope it will streamline the bloc's structures to cope with enlargement after it opened its doors to 12 mostly ex-communist states in 2004 and 2007. Critics say it will curb national sovereignty further and put more power in Brussels.

Friday's summit is due to agree on a mandate for a "reflection group" on the long-term future of the bloc, naming a chairperson for the panel, due to report to EU leaders in June 2010.

REFLECTION

A spokesman for EU President Portugal declined to comment on candidates. Among names tipped for the role are former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, former European Parliament chief Pat Cox and chairman of phone giant Nokia, Jorma Ollila, diplomats said.

Other figures mentioned as possible members of the group, likely to number at most nine people, are Dutch soccer hero Johann Cruyff and European trade union leader John Monks.

EU states will affirm that developing an effective European migration policy complementing national rules is a "fundamental priority", with an acknowledgement that the ageing bloc needs migrant labour while insisting immigrants be ready to integrate.

Kosovo's independence aspirations represent an even more pressing challenge, particularly because the Lisbon Treaty is billed as giving EU foreign policy more clout.

A handful of EU capitals are still reluctant to recognise an independence declaration expected early next year.

The draft summit statement said Serbia should be offered a fast track to candidacy for joining the EU and preparations for an EU police mission to stabilise Kosovo should be stepped up.

The text said talks on the breakaway Serbian province have been exhausted, the status quo is untenable and a settlement of Kosvo's future status is essential for Balkan stability.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed the announcement this week of a Serbian presidential election on January 20. The election will give voters a say on whether Serbia should move closer to the EU or protest at its role in Kosovo.

"We are very pleased and support the decision ... calling for presidential elections in Serbia and as you know we are in a position in our minds that the final status of Kosovo has to be resolved," he told reporters as he arrived for the summit.

The draft also showed the EU leaders were set to say they were ready to tighten sanctions on Myanmar if the country's military rulers do not ease repression.

Talks on how the EU should deal with globalisation will be closely followed for how they reconcile the free trade approach of countries such as Britain with the French view of protecting home-grown industries from cheap imports.

A communique draft is along uncontroversial lines. It states: "Together we will ensure that globalisation is a source of opportunity rather than threat. For this, we will continue building a stronger Union for a better world."