BRUSSELS, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Several foreign ministers from European Union countries called on Kosovo Albanian leaders Monday to refrain from declaring independence.
EU ministers met in Brussels to discuss the situation in Kosovo following weekend elections won by the party of former guerrilla leader Hashim Thaci.
Thaci said his party plans to declare independence for Kosovo.
Several foreign ministers, wanting to preserve EU unity, urged ethnic-Albanian leaders not to declare independence, B92 radio reported.
Serbs and Kosovo Albanians are scheduled to meet in Brussels Tuesday in another bid to achieve a breakthrough in their talks.
Leaders of ethnic-Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 1.9 million population, and the Serbian government in Belgrade, representing some 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo, have stuck to their positions. Kosovo Albanians want independence from Serbia, and the Serbian government wants to keep Kosovo as part of Serbia.
