Kostunica says will not trade Kosovo for EU entry

LISBON (Reuters) - Serbia is open to giving Kosovo more autonomy but it will never trade the province's independence for entry into the European Union, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Monday.

Kostunica said some EU diplomats had suggested Serbia trade Kosovo's independence for EU entry, an offer he called indecent.

He made the comments after meeting Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

"The offer is like this: if you want Europe you can forget Kosovo, if you want Kosovo you can forget Europe," Kostunica said. "Things cannot be like that. It's an indecent offer."

There is deadlock at the United Nations over the breakaway Serbian province, with Russia taking Serbia's side in opposing Kosovo's independence. The United States, Britain, Germany, France and Italy say it is inevitable.

Kostunica said: "There should be no new borders in Europe. (Serbia) should be accepted as it is. That means Serbia with Kosovo within itself, with Kosovo having the greatest level of autonomy."

Serbia hopes to have a so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union in October, a first step towards full EU membership.

Brussels has said Serbia must hand over Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic before the SAA can be signed.

Kosovo's population is 90 percent ethnic Albanian. The province has been run by the United Nations since 1999 when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of killing and expelling ethnic Albanian civilians in a counter-insurgency war.

Kostunica said many EU officials had said they expected Serbia to grant Kosovo independence before it could become an EU member. "There are many officials, many politicians who spoke about that," he said.