VIANA DO CASTELO (AFP) -- European Union foreign ministers sought Friday to present a united front over the status of Kosovo, playing down divisions over how much autonomy the Serbian province should win.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told AFP that the bloc's stance on Kosovo -- a potential powder keg in the often-volatile Balkans -- was ""good, better than it was. Go back a year.""
""We are likely to see the two parties (Serbia and Kosovo) talking in a less destructive way than we have seen so far and that... is fairly major progress,"" he said.
""I think with the appointment of Mr. Ischinger, who is a very experienced and trusted diplomat and negotiator, knows the area, we are on our way to forging a very good European position.""
The troika is supervising 120 days of delicate talks between Kosovo's separatist-minded majority ethnic Albanian representatives and officials from Belgrade, which are expected to end by December 10.
""I think there is a very strong view among all European Union foreign ministers that European unity is very important,"" said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
""The 120 days discussion that is now underway is serious. There are responsibilities on all sides -- in Pristina and Belgrade -- and European unity is going to be very important.""
Russia, a strong ally of Serbia, has held up progress on Kosovo's status arguing that the ""supervised independence"" a UN envoy has recommended would send the wrong signal to other breakaway regions.
That argument has resonance in Spain -- facing problems with Basque separatists -- while Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia are known to be reluctant to recognize any unilateral move by the province or an imposed UN solution.
""I cannot say the problem is solved,"" said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. ""But I don't think it is unsolvable.""
He dismissed the idea of dividing Kosovo up, saying ""partition is not something which has been put on the table by any party at the moment"".
Past talks between Serbia and Kosovo bore little fruit.
Kosovo remains part of Serbia but has been run by a UN mission since the 1999 war, when a NATO bombing campaign ended a Serbian military crackdown on the ethnic Albanians, who make up around 90 percent of the population.
""We are pushing hard for a solution and we don't want to be disunited,"" said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, a former UN administrator for Kosovo.
""The main thing is for the European countries to maintain the unity of our views.""