by Lorne Cook
BRUSSELS - European Union foreign ministers said Monday they had moved closer to reaching a united stance on recognising Kosovo as it moves to independence, but could not break down opposition from Cyprus.
However the ministers, meeting in Brussels, did agree on the need to deploy a police mission to Kosovo, as Russia warned of "consequences" if the Europeans act outside the auspices of the United Nations.
"We gave a step forward toward today but we still have some new steps to give during the next weeks," Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado said, after chairing the talks.
"We need to have patience and to understand that a question as sensitive as this takes time," he told reporters.
The meeting came right on the UN-set deadline for Serbian and Kosovo officials to negotiate a settlement, with the Serbian province`s ethnic Albanian leaders likely to notify their intentions to break away next month.
Major European powers -- Britain, France, Germany and Italy, which with the United States are ready to recognize any independence move -- tried to rally their partners.
"I think there was a really strong sense of unity around the table today, a determination that Europe would provide leadership on this issue," said an upbeat British Foreign Secretary David Miliband after the talks.
"Each individual country will have to make its own decision but I think there is a recognition that this is a European problem."
At least four states -- Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia and Spain -- are hesitant to recognise a unilateral declaration of independence, in part because of the precedent it might set for other separatist regions.
But only Cyprus refused outright, with a spokesman saying the government would do so even if "almost the entire European Union agreed towards that direction and reacted against our position".
Serbia`s ally Russia, which has played upon EU divisions in the past, warned those thinking of backing an independent Kosovo to "think very carefully about the consequences".
"In that case those countries would be violating international law and we will not support the violation of international law," said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a two-day stop-over in Cyprus on his way to Brussels.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic also warned of adverse consequences.
"I hope that we will not come to such a situation where countries of the region or the international community will have to decide on whether they want or do not want to breach the long-term relationship with Serbia," he said.
The ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo -- one of Europe`s poorest regions -- announced Monday that it would begin coordinating a move to independence with its international partners.
Serbia, which wants to join the EU, refuses to part with its southern territory and has only been willing to grant it wide autonomy.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, a key mediator in the Balkans in the 1990s, warned that the EU would have to keep Kosovo afloat in the future.
"We would need ... to help and assist Kosovo for a long period of time," he said. "The real problems are ahead of us."
Kosovo has been managed under UN Security Council resolution 1244, which was agreed in 1999 after NATO bombed Belgrade to stop a crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
The resolution set up a UN mission, UNMIK, which has run Kosovo ever since and allowed NATO to deploy thousands of peacekeepers.
To help in the transition to independence, the EU is ready to deploy an 1,800-strong police and civilian mission to fill any vacuum that might be left as UNMIK disappears.
"The ... mission was completely supported today," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
However the UN must endorse the operation before it can be sent.
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12/10/2007 19:18 GMT