Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, visiting the Kosovo capital Pristina on Sunday, said neither Kostunica's rhetoric nor the May election would change Kosovo's independence.
"It's an election on whether Serbia wants to be part of Europe or not. And that choice is up to Serbia."
'NO CHANGE' ON KOSOVO
Serbia spent almost five months in limbo under a caretaker government in 2007, also under Kostunica, until he and the Democrats hammered out a policy they could both stand by.
Their deep differences meant the government worked in fits and starts, between compromise and crisis, moving slowly on reforms and ending up last in the Balkan queue of EU hopefuls.
Polls indicate the election could produce a hung parliament and a coalition deal might need long negotiations.
Such a delay could stall urgent legislation and the arrest of war crime suspects - a key condition for EU membership. But Kostunica's officials say the caretaker government will stay firm in its total opposition to independent Kosovo.
"Serbs and other loyal citizens in Kosovo shouldn't worry," said Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic.
Belgrade is instructing Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs to sever ties with the Albanian government and ignore the incoming EU mission. The Serb-dominated north is a flashpoint for any move towards a de facto partition.
Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who has warned Belgrade against trying to carve off part of the territory, said on Sunday Kosovo had contributed to Serbia's democratization.
"In 1999, when we pushed the police, army and Serb administration out of Kosovo, Milosevic's fall from power started," he told reporters at a border crossing where he unveiled a 'Welcome to Kosovo' sign.
"Now, with Kosovo's independence, Kostunica has fallen, the mentality of the past has fallen in Serbia."
