EU envoy sees Serbia-Kosovo normalisation deal in months

FILE PHOTO: Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak speaks to the media as he arrives at a European Union foreign ministers emergency meeting to discuss ways to try to save the Iran nuclear deal, in Brussels, Belgium, January 10, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

BLED, Slovenia (Reuters) - EU-mediated negotiations on normalising relations between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo could lead to a deal within months, the EU's envoy dealing with one of Europe's toughest territorial disputes said on Monday.

Ethnic Albanian majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 1999 after a NATO-led bombing campaign to curtail ethnic warfare. Serbia, backed by its large Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally Russia, does not recognise Kosovo's independence, a precondition for Belgrade's future membership of the EU.