ANSAmed

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 18 - United on the need to maintain stability and the European future for the western Balkans, including Serbia, but divided over recognising the independence of Kosovo. It will be a difficult meeting, the one that the EU foreign ministers will have today in Brussels. Only a few hours after the declaration of independence by parliament in Pristina, they have to decide what to do after sending a civilian mission of 2,000 policemen and magistrates to Kosovo in order to assist its transition. "Various EU member states are ready to recognise Kosovo," Slovenian Foreign Minister and rotating president of the EU, Dimitrij Rupel, said specifying that the recognition is an individual act of each member state. And the EU does not want to be divided over a prerogative that it cannot even exercise. Therefore the EU presidency is working on a joint declaration that will only "take notice" of Pristinàs proclamation and will leave each member state free to act as they want. Currently there are six states that have said that they will not recognise the new state: Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Greece and Spain. Madrid, which has already expressed its doubts, dismissed today all expectations to revise its position. "Spain will not recognise the unilateral proclamation of independence by the parliament of Pristina because it violates the international law," Spanish minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said. According to Madrid, the proclamation of Kosovòs independence is an illegal act as it is made without an agreement between the two parties and outside of a UN mandate. "We do not know what the consequences of this act could be," Moratinos added. (ANSAmed).