European Union leaders have agreed to send a police and civilian mission to Kosovo with the Serbian province expected to move toward independence.
'We took a political decision to send an ESDP (European Security and Defence Policy) mission to Kosovo,' Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told reporters after an EU summit in Brussels.
'This is the clearest signal that the European Union could possibly give that it intends to lead on the whole issue of Kosovo's future, its status and its role in the region,' he added.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica denounced the decision, saying it would create a puppet state on Serbian soil.
He also rejected an EU offer of a fast-track route for Serbia joining the bloc, saying it was an insult.
The EU has been preparing a police and justice operation of around 1,800 personnel, as well as a civilian office, to deploy to Kosovo if requested by the United Nations.
The mission would help ease the southern province's transition of power from the UN administration, which has been in place since 1999, to the local authorities.
It was meant to be part of a solution proposed by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, who recommended that the province be granted independence supervised by the international community, a proposal rejected by Serbia.
Kosovo has been administered by the UN since NATO bombed Belgrade in 1999 to end a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians, and the Albanian majority has been impatient for independence ever since.
EU officials and experts believe that Kosovo's leaders will announce next month their intention to declare independence, and then break away by May in coordination with its EU and US allies.
