March 30, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1429

BRDO (Slovenia): Kosovo expects recognition from all European Union countries soon, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said on Saturday after his first meeting with EU foreign ministers since independence in February.

He also told newsmen that Belgrade, which fiercely disputes Kosovo’s independence from Serbia, might start accepting the fact after its own election on May 11.

“My feeling is that everyone supported Kosovo, because we deserve it, we work with democratic criteria ... Kosovo’s independence brings peace and stability in the region,” Thaci said in an interview.

Asked when he expects all EU countries to recognise Kosovo, which declared independence on Feb 17, he said: “I’m sure very soon”.

So far 18 out of 27 EU members have recognised Kosovo, but Thaci said he had received “confirmation from Spain, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Greece today that they will continue to work very hard to recognise the independence of Kosovo”.

“Most EU countries have recognised Kosovo’s independence and all of them support our independence and we need to respect countries’ procedures in the process of recognition,” he added.

Thaci said he hoped relations with Serbia may thaw after the Serbian parliamentary election in May.

Serbia, along with its backer Russia and some other states, opposes the independence of its former province, which Belgrade vows never to recognise.

“I think Serbia will start to move to recognise independence of Kosovo because we have two opinions of Kosovo (there), privately everybody knows and accepts the independence but officially they need time ... maybe until May 11,” Thaci said.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic met EU ministers for breakfast on Saturday but left without meeting other Western Balkan states including Kosovo.

Thaci rejected any partition of Kosovo along ethnic lines, adding that violence in Serb-populated northern Kosovo was an isolated incident encouraged by Belgrade. Two million Albanians form 90 per cent of the Kosovo population.

The north — home to 50,000 of Kosovo’s 120,000 Serbs — has rejected independence. Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since a 1999 NATO air war to halt Serb ethnic cleansing forced the Serb forces to pull out.

One UN police officer was killed in riots in the Serb stronghold of north Mitrovica last week.

“There is no chance of partition, because the territorial integrity of Kosovo is recognised and protected by the international community. We work for integration and not to change the borders,” Thaci said.

—Reuters