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EU under pressure to devise Kosovo 'plan B'

08 September 2007, 15:24 CET

(VIANA DO CASTELO) - European Union foreign ministers met Saturday under pressure to draw up a plan in case last ditch talks on the future status of Kosovo break down.

Their talks here began hours after a senior US official affirmed that the United States would recognize Kosovo should its ethnic Albanian leaders declare independence out of frustration at the lack of progress.

The ministers, meeting in Viana do Castelo, northern Portugal, have shown scant optimism that negotiations between Serbian and Kosovo representatives would bear fruit by a December 10 deadline.

But a key to devising a plan B to deal with the Serbian province -- a potential powderkeg in the often-volatile Balkans -- would be for the 27 EU countries to present a united front on whether to follow the US lead.

"We are going to continue maintaining unity of the EU with the objective of finding a solution to the problem," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters ahead of the meeting.

However he refused to be drawn on whether the Europeans would, or indeed could, agree to recognize the Serbian province, which has been UN-run since a NATO bombed Belgrade in 1999 to stop a Serb crackdown on Kosovo Albanians.

"The Europeans are engaged in the negotiations now, we are going to keep on being very engaged in that direction," Solana said.

In an interview with AFP Friday, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Kurt Volker underlined that Kosovo appeared determined to declare independence in the absence of any settlement.

"Then I think all of us have to take our responsibility for maintaining peace and stability in the Balkans," he said.

"We would recognize Kosovo independence as, we assume, a number of others would as well because that is the only stable way forward in the Balkans," he said, but added that he hoped the two sides could reach a deal.

On the eve of the meeting here, the European ministers appeared almost pessimistic that the talks -- under the supervision of an international troika of the EU, Russia and the United States -- would achieve results.

EU envoy Wolfgang Ischinger was due to update the ministers on progress.

Serbian and Kosovo representatives failed utterly to bridge their differences in more than a year of negotiations under UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, who recommended that Kosovo be granted "supervised independence".

"Perhaps the chances are not great. But there is a slim chance," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, while Luxembourg's Jean Asselborn conceded: "I know that there is little chance."

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband underlined the price of failure.

"Kosovo is a potentially dangerous situation on Europe's borders," he said. "I hope that we are able to reach the sort of consensus that these informal meetings are about."

A senior British official underlined that "there is no real alternative to supervised independence."

In a sign that the talks between the Serbians and the Kosovo Albanians, which began last month, have produced little, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn urged Belgrade to come up with a better offer.

"It's the last chance for a negotiated settlement between the parties," he told AFP. "We expect Serbia to engage constructively in the ongoing talks with the troika," and to be more "constructive and creative".

Serbia has been ably backed in its quest to keep its territory by Russia, which has threatened to veto in the UN Security Council any attempts to impose a solution as it might inspire separatists elsewhere around the world, including in its borders.

That argument has resonance in Spain -- facing problems with Basque separatists -- while Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia are known to be reluctant to recognize any unilateral move by the province or an imposed UN solution.

Informal Meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers (GYMNICH)


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