European Union foreign ministers are expected to give formal approval next Monday for a 1,800-strong mission of policemen, judges, prosecutors and customs officials to stabilise Kosovo after the province officially secedes from Serbia.

The EU plans to send a first batch of law and order officials even before Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders declare independence, a step that some EU diplomats predict will happen in March. All 27 EU member-states except Cyprus support the prompt despatch of the mission, but Cyprus is expected to object rather than block the decision.