EU president Portugal urges unity on Kosovo

PRISTINA, Serbia, Aug 22 (Reuters) European Union president Portugal called for unity within the 27-member bloc on the question of Kosovo today, warning the stability of the Balkans was at stake.

Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado said he saw little prospect of an ''optimistic result'' if the EU ''is not present in the final solution'' for the breakaway Serbian province.

''If at the end of this process you have the position of the United States, the position of Russia and no position of the EU, this will be a problem not only for the EU but also for the stability of the region.'' Western diplomats warn that within months Brussels could be forced to decide between backing a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, or using NATO troops on the ground to put down a possible revolt.

A troika of envoys from the United States, Russia and the EU is leading fresh talks between Serbia and Kosovo's Albanian leaders to try to break the deadlock over the fate of the territory, but observers see little prospect of a deal.

Russian opposition at the UN Security Council has blocked the adoption of a Western-backed plan to give the territory independence under EU supervision.

Diplomats and analysts predict violent unrest if the major EU states do not follow Washington in backing a declaration of independence by Kosovo, outside the United Nations.

The province, where 90 percent of the 2 million people are Albanians, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombed to drive out Serb forces and halt the ethnic cleansing of Albanians in a two-year war with guerrillas.

Russia backs Serbia in its opposition to independence.

But an influential think-tank said this week Kosovo Albanian leaders would be under ''irresistible'' internal pressure to take matters into their own hands by the end of 2007, and there could be ''chaos'' if the EU does not back them.

The EU has previously insisted on the need for a UN resolution, and diplomats fear its unity would crumble without one. Some members could pull their troops from the 16,000-strong NATO peace force, analysts say.

''I need to work together with the 27 member states so that at the end of the game we can work on a consensual position of the EU,'' said Amado. He said it was a matter of ''fine-tuning''.

Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku alluded to the threat of violence, which the West fears could spread to ethnic Albanian areas of neighbouring Macedonia and Serbia's Presevo Valley.

''For us the unity and consensus of the EU is important, but more important for us is the stability of the region, and the EU must take this into account,'' he told a joint news conference.

The new talks, on top of 13 months of fruitless Serb-Albanian dialogue led by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, are due to run up to December. 10.

Ceku said he was hopeful that ''immediately after that 120-day period Kosovo's independence will be recognised.'' REUTERS GT RK2234