EU SUMMIT : EU leaders have agreed to send an EU police and civilian administration mission to Kosovo despite strong opposition from Serbia.

They also offered Serbia yesterday a fast-track procedure to join the EU if the Balkan state begins co-operating with a tribunal investing war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

"We took a political decision to send an ESDP [European Security and Defence Policy] mission to Kosovo. This is the clearest signal the EU could possibly give that Europe intends to lead on Kosovo and the future of the region," said Portuguese prime minister Jose Socrates.

The decision to prepare the EU mission drew a belligerent response from Belgrade.

Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica said the offer was an insult and that recognition of Kosovo's independence would be "the most dangerous precedent since World War Two".

"It is especially insulting to offer a crippled Serbia the reward of fast-track to the EU in exchange for its consent to violence," he added in a statement.

The ESDP mission is expected to contain about 1,800 police, justice officials and civilian administrators.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern confirmed last night that Ireland would be willing to send some members of the Garda to take part in the mission and retain its 200-strong Irish troops.

British prime minister Gordon Brown said the decision would be implemented after EU foreign ministers next meet on January 28th, the clearest indication of when the force could start to deploy. French president Nicolas Sarkozy said there was now a general understanding that Kosovo's independence was inevitable.

Most EU diplomats expect Kosovo to declare independence in the new year, a move that Serbia and its ally Russia bitterly oppose.

The union has been struggling for many months to agree a common response among its 27 members to the declaration in an effort to show a united front to Serbia.

But diplomats said Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia and Romania all continue to object to recognising Kosovo's sovereignty without a UN Security Council resolution.

"I want to make clear we are not supporting the declaration of Kosovo's independence. Any agreement on Kosovo must be done with the blessing of the Serbs," said Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos, who acknowledged that it still made good sense to begin preparations for the EU police mission.

Meanwhile, EU leaders also sought to ratchet up the pressure on Burma and Iran by threatening to impose further economic sanctions unless they changed their policies.

A statement agreed at the summit said: "The European Council reaffirms that the EU stands ready to review, amend or further reinforce restrictive measures against the government of Burma/Myanmar in the light of developments on the ground."

Britain and Ireland had both pushed to have the declaration agreed to keep the pressure on the Burmese military dictatorship following its bloody repression of pro-democracy demonstrations led by monks in September.

The EU also issued a statement reiterating its support for possible additional UN sanctions against Iran if it fails to give up nuclear enrichment work, and repeated an offer of support if it did so.

In a series of other declarations agreed at the summit, EU leaders also pledged to move forward and concentrate their efforts in tackling the challenges posed by globalisation and immigration. EU leaders also agreed to begin a review of the union's security and defence strategy and issue a report later this year.