The European Union has given its backing to a UN plan for the future status of Kosovo, which envisions greater autonomy for the province.
EU foreign ministers, in a statement issued after a meeting in Brussels today, said it would strengthen regional stability, and expressed "full support" for the plan's author, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.

The statement also urged Kosovo's Albanians and Serbia to participate actively and constructively in consultations with Ahtisaari on the future status of the breakaway Serbian province.

Under the plan, an international envoy -- a European official mandated by the United Nations and the European Union -- would take over supervision of Kosovo for a transition period, and the EU would deploy a police mission alongside the current 16,500-strong NATO peace force.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO drove out Serbian forces accused of killing thousands of ethnic Albanians.

PHOTO CAPTION

United Nations and Kosovo police face off against protesters, in front of a NATO poster promoting tolerance and stability, in the Kosovo capital Pristina February 10, 2007. (Reuters)

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