KEY POINTS:
A craze of fault lines appeared across the political map of Europe yesterday as the continent grappled with Kosovo's proclamation of independence.
European Union foreign ministers struggled to agree on a statement that would paper over cracks within the 27-nation bloc.
The major EU powers declared they would recognise Kosovo as a sovereign state, but some dragged their feet or even branded the declaration of independence as illegal.
In separate moves, Britain, France, Germany and Italy announced they would officially recognise the breakaway Serbian province, a path also taken by the United States but opposed by Russia and China.
Serbia recalled its ambassador to Washington in protest over US recognition for Kosovo, but said it was not severing diplomatic ties. It also ordered its ambassadors to France and Turkey to return and was expected to withdraw envoys to Britain, Germany and other nations that formally recognise Kosovo as a new state.
As anti-independence protests involving several thousand Serbs unfolded in parts of Kosovo as well as in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in Brussels: "We intend to recognise Kosovo.
"The President [of France, Nicolas Sarkozy] has written to the Kosovar President in this respect. The letter will go off tonight. As soon this exchange has taken place, France's recognition of Kosovo's independence will take effect."
Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland and Poland said they would follow suit, diplomats in Brussels said. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt predicted "the vast majority" of 27 EU countries would give recognition in the coming weeks.
"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," said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Even so, a significant minority of EU countries remained silent or opposed, showing that Serbia, tarred as a pariah for igniting the Balkan powder keg in the 1990s, is not without sympathy or support on this question.
Opposition was led by Spain, which fears the contagion of separatism could spread to the Basque country and Catalonia.
Other countries opposed on legal grounds, fearing that to partition a sovereign state without its consent or UN approval could threaten their own position under international law.
Russia says it will use its Security Council veto to crush any recognition of Kosovo.
The response was particularly icy from Cyprus, which is divided into the de facto state of the Turkish-occupied north and the de jure state of the Greek south.
"We will never recognise the independence of Kosovo," said Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, dismissing Monday's declaration in Pristina, the Kosovar capital, as "legally invalid".
EU newcomer Romania, worried that Russian separatists would press their claim on a disputed region in neighbouring Moldava, said Kosovo's announcement was an illegal act.
Greece, which backs Cyprus, and Slovakia, fearing breakaway moves by ethnic Hungarians, were also reserved.
The split prevented a common EU position on Kosovo's status, leaving ministers to haggle over a face-saving statement. It said nations would decide on their relations with Kosovo "in accordance with national practice and international law".
"Kosovo constitutes a sui generis case which does not call into question" the principles of territorial integrity under the UN Charter, the compromise warned.
Despite the tensions, no opposition is emerging over the EU's plan to place Kosovo under its tutelage with a civilian and political mission, with Nato troops, already on the ground under a UN mandate, to keep the peace.
Spanish Defence Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said Spain would maintain its 585 troops in the multinational force, which was on a "politically neutral" mission. Spain will also contribute 20 people to the EU mission.
Around 90 per cent of Kosovo's two million citizens are ethnic Albanian Muslims. Landlocked and grindingly poor, the province has been under UN Administration since 1999, when a Nato air campaign ended a brutal crackdown by Belgrade. Years of negotiations over its future led nowhere, prompting concern that mounting frustration in Kosovo would unleash fresh bloodletting.
Analysts fear manipulation of the Serbian minority by hardliners in Belgrade as well as attacks against Kosovar Serbs, despite pledges by Kosovo's leaders that all minorities will be safe.
Robin Shepherd, senior research fellow at the Chatham House thinktank in London, said independence for Kosovo "was always going to be a messy affair".
"In the heat of the moment it looks like an insoluble situation. However, tempers may cool in the weeks ahead. Whatever happens, the US and the leading members of the EU must make good on their pledges to contain the situation in Kosovo, while offering Serbia the long-term prospect of membership in transatlantic structures such as the EU and Nato."
