EU ministers seek to avoid rift on Kosovo

European Union states vowed yesterday to seek to maintain a united front on the fate of Kosovo despite differences among themselves.

EU foreign ministers acknowledged they did not yet all see eye-to-eye on whether to recognise a possible declaration of independence by the breakaway Serbian province's majority Albanians if talks with Belgrade fail by a December 10 deadline.

Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency and so must forge consensus in coming months, said avoiding a split was vital for security in the Balkans and "key to the credibility of Europe's foreign policy".

Serbia has said it could never accept independence for the province of two million people and has the backing of Russia, which holds a veto in the UN Security Council.

Alongside the United States, Britain and France are among EU states ready to recognise Kosovo's sovereignty. Spain, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus and Romania are reluctant, either because of their proximity to the Balkans or fears it could encourage separatists at home.

At the Viana meeting, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and his Czech Republic counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg both warned Kosovo not to declare independence unilaterally.

Bildt said EU states firmly backed EU mediator Wolfgang Ischinger in his efforts to wring an agreement out of Serbs and Kosovo Albanians over the next three months, and suggested a compromise was still possible.

It could also weaken the 16,000 NATO-led Kosovo peace force, mostly made up of European troops, and encourage Serb efforts to derail any breakaway move by Kosovo. Diplomats say Germany is anxious about keeping troops there without a new UN mandate. Ischinger said a plan by UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari to set Kosovo on the road to independence with security guarantees for the province's minority Serbs remained on the table.

Italy suggested the EU could help the quest for a compromise by offering Serbia the status of a candidate country for EU entry, but several countries insisted Belgrade must first bring war crime suspects to justice.