A Serbian government minister on Friday ruled out independence for the breakaway province of Kosovo even if this meant Belgrade would be barred from joining the European Union

"Talks on independence for Kosovo are out of the question," Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said in comments quoted by daily newspaper Blic. "And if the price for joining the European Union is Kosovo independence —well, thanks, we’ll not join the European Union," said Covic. Kosovo has been run as a de facto UN protectorate since NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign to end Serb repression of the Albanian majority during a guerrilla insurgency by the Kosovo Liberation Army. Belgrade insists it must remain part of Serbia while Albanians, who make up well over 90 percent of the two million population, demand outright independence. Serbian leaders often say independence for the landlocked and impoverished province is not an option, but Covic’s comment was believed to be the first time the issue was publicly linked to Belgrade’s aim of EU membership. Serbia’s ruling reformers have quickly improved ties with the West since ousting former President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 after a decade of Balkan wars and isolation. The government hopes to join the EU by the end of the decade.