Kosovo is confident it has the backing of US and European allies to declare independence and is ready to take the step in a matter of days, the breakaway Serb province's prime minister said after talks in Brussels.
Hashim Thaci said he expected the exact date to be unveiled soon in Pristina, but did not elaborate further.
"There are some procedures we need to respect and some consultations we needed to respect ... It is an issue of days," Mr Thaci said after meeting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
"We need a united position and for that we have confirmation from our partners ... I think we will have massive support from Washington, the EU and countries around Kosovo," he added.
Thaci did not specify whether he was referring to internal Kosovo procedures needed to formally launch the declaration, or to the EU's preparations to launch a 1,800-strong police and justice mission in the mainly ethnic Albanian province.
Mr Solana said he and Mr Thaci did not discuss dates. However one EU source said Mr Thaci had been privately given the message in Brussels that it could be easier for the EU to approve the mission in mid-February before a declaration of independence.
Earlier the European Commission also ducked the question of the date after Mr Thaci met EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.
"Commissioner Rehn reiterated the European Union's readiness to carry its responsibility by steering a coordinated and managed process to finalise the settlement of Kosovo's status," Commission spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy said.
Pressed on whether they had discussed a date, she told a news conference: "I would like to ask your understanding that this issue is a very sensitive issue, that we are in a very sensitive political context, in which it is better to resort to diplomatic means than to public statements."