MADRID (AFP)--Spain's decision not to recognize Kosovo's independence is no bar to its taking part in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization peacekeeping force in the territory, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Thursday. 

"NATO is not in the business of recognition, that's not NATO's job and Spain's position in this regard is entirely consistent," he told a joint news conference in Madrid with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. 

"The position to recognize is legitimate, the position not to recognize is as legitimate as the other position," he added. 

NATO-led KFOR (Kosovo Force) troops "are there to create security and stability for all Kosovars be they Serbs, be they Albanians, be they minority, be they majority," Scheffer said. 

Spain broke ranks with most of its European allies and refused to recognise Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia made in February, fearing it could encourage separatist groups at home, such as in the Basque region. 

But Madrid has continued to supply soldiers to NATO's KFOR peacekeeping force and to the United Nations' police force in the unruly territory. 

This has led to criticism from some quarters that Spain's position is not clear and that its troops are in effect being used to shore up an "illegal" breakaway Kosovo regime that their own government does not recognise.