The statement, agreed by the foreign ministers of the 27-nation bloc, said Ahtisaari's "comprehensive proposal... provides the basis for the settlement of the Kosovo issue by a new Resolution of the United Nations Security Council."
Determining the status of the predominantly Albanian province of Serbia has been on the international agenda since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a war between Serb forces and Muslim Albanian separatists in 1999. The region has remained a UN protectorate ever since.
Ahtisaari's plan foreseeing independence for the region, which is home to two million, has been welcomed by the Kosovar Albanians, but strongly opposed by the Serb minority, as well as Belgrade and Moscow.
Moscow has repeatedly said a solution must be based on a compromise between Belgrade and Pristina, and that the position of ethnic minorities in the region also be considered.
