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For his part, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn called the moment: "historic for international justice."

It is also "very important for Serbia's European aspirations" and "proves that the new government of Serbia has the determination to turn the page, leave the nationalist past behind and move towards a European future," he added.

In addition, Gruevski urged Athens to recognise the existence of the Macedonian minority on its territory and grant them the right to education in their own language as well as to foster their culture and traditions. 

Greece immediately reacted. In response to Gruevski's letter, Greek Foreigh Minister Dora Bakoyiannis said on Tuesday that the extreme nationalism from Skopje "sows the wind, but reaps whirlwind". 

Croatia will be ready to join the EU in 2009 and its membership is not going to be delayed by the EU's current institutional "crisis", Croatian President Stjepan Mesic has said.

"I understand European countries, including France, which intend to solve the EU's institutional problems before proceeding to any new accessions … [But] we will speed up the rhythm of our reforms and be ready in 2009 to join the EU as its 28th member," Mr Mesic told French daily Le Figaro in an interview published on Tuesday (15 July).

Serbia's parliament on Monday (7 July) approved the country's new government which will be led by prime minister Mirko Cvetkovic and favouring prompt EU membership– but which remains opposed to Kosovo's independence.

The government coalition will be made up of a pro-EU alliance – led by current president Boris Tadic's Democrats (DS) – who won the elections in May, but did not get a big enough majority to form a government on its own, and the reformed Socialists (SPS) of late president Slobodan Milosevic

However, the new premier also stressed his country was nowhere close to accepting Kosovo's independence.

"I pledge allegiance to the Republic of Serbia and promise with my honour that I will respect the Constitution... and to be committed to the preservation of Kosovo and Metohija within the Republic of Serbia," the premier and his ministers vowed after being sworn in.

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"The worst would be for Brussels to impose something on Ireland," Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said after the meeting.

According to him, there were three scenarios which should be categorically avoided: a long period of reflection such as the one following the failure of the constitution, a renegotiation of the Lisbon Treaty, and the suspension of the ratification process. 

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU Presidency until 30 June, insisted the EU was not in a crisis. He expressed his confidence that "sooner or later these reforms [envisaged by the Lisbon Treaty] will see the light of day". But, he added, it would be "risky to say that we are going to give life back to the treaty while faced with a deadlock". 

Meanwhile, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn further reassured EU candidate countries that enlargement is not threatened by the Irish 'no', said, dismissing calls such as that from European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering, who said he saw Croatia as the last country to join for now as long as the new treaty is still not in place. 

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While Kosovo is not on the foreign ministers' agenda, it is unlikely that they will be able to avoid the topic, after the fledgling state's constitution entered into force on Sunday. 

The EU is also poised to take over policing and justice tasks from the United Nations after the UN's Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week put forward proposals to "reconfigure" the activities of the UN Mission UNMIK to allow the EU to deploy its contested EU-Lex police mission there (EurActiv 29/05/08). 

"It is my intention to reconfigure the structure and profile of the international civil presence [...] enabling the European Union to assume an enhanced operational role," said the secretary general in letters to Kosovo and Serbian leaders. 

But the handover, which is foreseen in Kosovo's constitution, remains strongly opposed by both Serbia and Russia, who insist that the EU mission is illegal because it has not been approved by the UN Security Council. 

Despite the incidents, the minister stressed that his country felt ready to open EU accession negotiations and was hoping for this to happen this year.

"Macedonia is aware that we will not be prepared by tomorrow to become a member of the EU, but we feel prepared tomorrow to open accession negotiations over EU membership," he said.

Macedonia's preferred timing coincides with France's presidency of the EU, which is to start on 1 July and will last until the end of the year.

But French President Nicolas Sarkozy has clearly stated that he supports Greece in a 17-year-old name row over Macedonia's name - something that may eventually prove problematic for Skopje's EU bid.

The European Union has voiced deep concerns over the ethnic violence which marked election day in EU-hopeful Macedonia, leaving one person dead and eight wounded.

"The European Commission is very concerned about the use of violence during the election in the country," the EU's executive body said following Sunday's polls (1 June), widely seen as a test of Macedonia's democratic credentials.

Meanwhile, current prime minister Nikola Gruevski hailed the landslide victory of his centre-right VMRO-DPMNE party, with preliminary results suggesting it secured over 48 percent of the vote.

The score is likely to translate to more than 60 seats in the 120-strong parliament, giving the winning party enough power to stir the agenda.

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