Three neighbours of Serbia angered Belgrade yesterday by announcing that they would formally recognise Kosovo's independence this week, helping to relieve nerves in Pristina at the slow pace of international support for the world's newest country.

Support from Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary will bring the total number of states recognising the breakaway Serbian province to 33, far fewer than many in Kosovo had hoped for by this stage, more than a month after declaring self-rule.

A target for half of the 192 members of the United Nations General Assembly to accept Kosovo by September has been dropped quietly and replaced with a drive for “quality rather than quantity” to show that the world's most powerful democracies back the Balkan nation.

Kosovo's main sponsors in Washington, Brussels and London are working behind the scenes to gather enough support to rebuff any attempt by Russia at the UN to reopen talks on the status of a territory that it regards as an integral part of its ally Serbia.

In an interview with The Times, Pieter Feith, the EU special representative to Kosovo, said: “If you look at this as a numbers game — for instance, 50 per cent of the members of the UN General Assembly by September, when it convenes — this could be seen as falling short of what we had hoped.

“If you look at quality, I think we are well on track. You have all the G7 countries, and even before Canada and Japan recognised [this week] we had 65 per cent of the world's GDP. In qualitative terms you have the most significant economic democracies of the world.”

There is disquiet at the reluctance of big nations such as India and Brazil to recognise Kosovo, as well as disappointment with Spain, the largest of the eight EU members not to sign up. Madrid is understood to be concerned at giving any encouragement to its separatist movement in the Basque region while Greece and Cyprus are similarly reluctant to send a signal over Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.

Mr Feith, an experienced Dutch diplomat, who regards steering Kosovo towards the EU as his main role, is aiming for membership of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to give the country extra credibility. “It is important to get Kosovo to become a member of the international financial institutions to help kickstart the economy,” he said. “We are looking forward to a donors' conference organised by the European Commission in June and around that same time . . . significant progress in Kosovo's application to the World Bank.”

Mr Feith's other role is to help to oversee the transition of support with policing and the judiciary from the UN to the EU. He pledged to extend the EU's mission into the Serb stronghold of northern Mitrovica, the city hit by rioting on Monday that left a Ukrainian UN police officer dead.

Mr Feith believes that Serbs can be won round by allowing funding from Belgrade for health and education to continue. “There is a provision for continuing privileged linkages between Serbian communities and Belgrade with resources flowing in as long as this is transparent and in the view of the Government in Pristina,” he said.

Vuk Jeremic, the Serbian Foreign Minister, has predicted that international recognitions for Kosovo will peak at 40 and suggested that some could be persuaded to change their mind. “Every country that decides to recognise the illegally declared state of Kosovo breaches international law . . . and cannot count on good relations with Serbia,” he said yesterday on a visit to Greece, a traditional ally.

— United Nations police started to return to northern Mitrovica after the area spent 48 hours under effective martial law following riots that left a UN officer dead and more than 150 people injured.

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