While last week’s summit of EU leaders decided to send a police mission to the soon-to-be-independent Kosovo, Malta was reported in the international media to be rather “reticent” on this matter.

After the breaking down of the negotiations between Serbs and Kossovars, it is thought a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo is inevitable. Kosovo is 90 per cent Albanian.

But, according to international press reports, Malta, along with Spain, Slovakia and Cyprus are reluctant to accept a declaration of independence by Kosovo.

The EU is split over the matter, with some countries such as France and Italy pushing for an early EU accession for Serbia while in the meantime sending a police force of 1,800 officers to remove any danger of violence after UDI.