(BRDO PRI KRANJU) - EU hopes of engineering a meeting on Saturday between Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci after Kosovo declared independence have failed, diplomats said.

The two men had been invited to a debate on the Balkans with the 27 EU foreign ministers, who on Friday began two days of talks in Brdo Pri Kranju, near the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

The pair "have not even been in the same town," since Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in February, one European diplomat said.

Jeremic arrived at 8:30 am (0730 GMT) Saturday for a working breakfast with his EU counterparts in Brdo and Thaci's office said Friday that the Kosovo leader would come to Slovenia to meet with the European Union foreign ministers.

However several diplomats said that Thaci was unlikely to make the short trip north from Ljubljana to Brdo.

And even if he did then Jeremic would not attend the meeting, they added.

Some diplomatic sources said that Thaci should not even have been invited as a meeting with Jeremic was not feasible at this stage.

They had hoped instead that Kosovo's deputy prime minister Hajredin Kuqi might come, as there would have been more chance of Jeremic attending a meeting with him present.

The debate to which Thaci and foreign ministers from other Balkan nations have been invited is due to take place late on Saturday morning.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, confirmed that Thaci had been invited.

"Let us see if Mr Thaci will come," he said. "I think it is logical that someone from the Kosovo government joins our meeting."

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Friday he hoped the EU-Balkans meeting would create a constructive atmosphere which would help resolve the situation.

The Europeans are hoping to convince the Serbian government, implacably opposed to Kosovo's independence, to resume talks on Serbia's possible future entry into the EU, frozen since the independence announcement.

Most EU nations, as well as the United States, have recognised mainly ethnically-Albanian Kosovo's declaration of independence on February 17, which Russia strongly opposes.

Even though Jeremic describes European recognition of Kosovo as "treason", he and Serb President Boris Tadic are among the most pro-European members of the Serbian leadership.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, a hardline nationalist, is opposed to talks with the EU unless the bloc acknowledges Kosovo as part of Serbia.

The differences within the Serbian government have led to the end of the government and fresh elections to be held on May 11.

The European Union believes that the best way to stabilise the Western Balkans is for Serbia, Kosovo and the whole region to eventually join up.

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