EU envoys to seek common stand on Kosovo

BRUSSELS, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- European Union foreign ministers are to meet in Portugal to try to reach a common stand on the status of Serbia’s mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province.

The EU ministers will be meeting in Portugal’s Viana do Castelo Friday and Saturday, the EUobserver said Thursday.

Wolfgang Ischinger, representing the EU in an international troika of mediators on Kosovo including the United States and Russia, recently warned there would be a chaos if the union fails to reach a common position on the Serbian breakaway province.

Britain, France and Germany suggest they might support Kosovo’s possible unilateral proclamation of independence from Serbia, if the troika-mediated talks on the province’s future collapse, while Greece, Slovakia and Spain oppose the idea.

The troika is to lead talks between the Serbian government in Belgrade and leaders of Kosovo ethnic-Albanians in Pristina in coming weeks. It should submit a report on the talks to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by Dec. 10.

Kosovo wants independence from Serbia and the Belgrade government representing 100,000 Serbs living in Kosovo says the province will always be integral part of Serbia.