The FINANCIAL — According to EU business, Britain and France led a majority of EU nations February 18 in announcing their intention to recognise Kosovo's independence, despite staunch opposition from Spain, Cyprus and Romania.
London and Paris took the swiftest steps to recognise Kosovo, following Pristina's declaration of independence on February 17, formally exchanging letters in the capital of the breakaway Serbian province.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy recognised Kosovo "as a free and independent state" in a letter addressed to Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, the Elysee presidential palace announced.
British Foreign Minister David Miliband announced his country's recognition of Kosovo to reporters following a meeting with his 26 EU counterparts in Brussels.
"I think there's a very strong head of steam building among a wide range of countries, who see this as the last piece of the Yugoslav jigsaw," he said.
"And I don't see stability in the Western Balkans being established without the aspirations of the Kosovo people being respected."
Germany, Italy and 14 other EU member states declared their intention to follow suit, following the necessary procedures which differ from nation to nation.
Almost simultaneously the United States "formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement.
However Spain, with its own Basque separatists problem, remained staunchly opposed to recognition, which all present agreed was a matter for national decisions rather than an EU-wide endorsement.
"Spain is not going to recognise this unilateral declaration of independence … because it does not consider that this respects international law," Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said.
Serbia's main ally Russia has threatened to veto the recognition of Kosovo at the UN Security Council
Cyprus, a divided island with a Turkey-recognised statelet in the north, was even blunter in its opposition.
"We will never recognize the independence of Kosovo," said Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis.
The ministers struggled during the day to find some kind of common line on Kosovo's independence in a bid to display a united diplomatic front.
Their agreed joint text was necessarily broad, leaving it up to member states to recognise Kosovo individually, or not. It also condemned acts of violence in Kosovo and Serbia following Sunday's proclamation.
All 27 EU states are keen not to alienate Belgrade, for fear that it turns to Russia, a strong opponent of Kosovo independence which has vowed to block UN recognition of a state of Kosovo.
"It took a few hours of Belgian style-wrangling, but we reached an agreement that has the merit of being both clear and vague at the same time," Belgium's Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said.
Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said his government had requested diplomatic recognition from governments worldwide, and hoped for the first positive responses within hours.
The declarations of intent to recognise Kosovo came thick and fast after the foreign ministers' meeting with pledges from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden joining the four major EU powers.
Only Cyprus, Spain and Romania came out strongly against the move, with the rest of the member states reserving judgement.
Despite their differences over recognising the new state, European nations have been united in their commitment to ensure some stability in the Balkans, given Europe's failure to prevent the bloody break-up of the former Yugoslavia.
They have already taken one major decision to boost Kosovo's viability, with the official launch on Saturday of a 2,000-strong police and justice mission to help ease the transition to independence.
The mission will be fully operational after a 120-day period and will essentially train and mentor police, judges and customs officials.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, after NATO bombed Belgrade to end a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists, but it remained technically part of Serbia.
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