Major European ministers meet to discuss Kosovo

Foreign ministers from four major European powers and top EU officials met to discuss the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo on Saturday, a day before presidential elections in Serbia. Serbia's staunch opposition to the plans of the province's ethnic Albanian majority to declare independence could benefit a nationalist candidate over the pro-Western incumbent, Boris Tadic, in the Sunday's vote. The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Britain and Italy - part of the so-called Contact Group that also includes the United States and Russia - were holding talks late Saturday along with the EU's foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, and its expansion official, Olli Rehn. The meeting was being held behind closed doors in Slovenia, which now holds the 27-nation bloc's rotating presidency, the state-run news agency STA reported. No statements were expected from the meeting.