Clinton Urges Serbia to Accept Kosovo and Its Borders PRISTINA, Kosovo - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Wednesday that Serbs must accept that Kosovo is independent and that its borders cannot be changed, as the United States and the European Union pressed Serbia and Kosovo to normalize relations. "We oppose any discussion of territorial changes or reopening Kosovo's independent status," Mrs. Clinton said after meeting with Kosovo's prime minister, Hashim Thaci, and Kosovo's president, Atifete Jahjaga. These matters are not up for discussion. The boundaries of an independent, sovereign Kosovo are clear and set. Kosovo was Mrs. Cinton's third stop in a whirlwind round of Balkan diplomacy as the United States and the European Union have sought to grapple with some of the bitter issues that have continued to bedevil the region after NATO's interventions more than a decade ago. Serbia's forces were driven out of Kosovo after NATO mounted an air war in 1999 to stem persecution of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian population. After a period of relative autonomy supervised by the United Nations and safeguarded by international peacekeeping troops, Kosovo declared its independence in 2008. Ninety nations have recognized Kosovo's independent status, including the United States, which played a lead role in organizing the military effort in 1999 and which remains hugely popular with the ethnic Albanian majority here. A large monument to former President Bill Clinton has been erected in a square here in Pristina near a store named Hillary. Neighboring Serbia, however, has refused to formally recognize Kosovo's independence, fearful of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated government, and many Serbs inside Kosovo are resisting the government's authority as well. About 60,000 Serbs who live in the northern part of Kosovo had continued to run their own schools and hospitals, which are under the protection of Serbian security forces and financed, American officials say, by the authorities in Belgrade, the Serbian capital. "The presence of illegal structures financed by Serbia makes our work very difficult there," Mr. Thaci said. Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, who accompanied Mrs. Clinton to Pristina on Wednesday, met in Brussels with Mr. Thaci and Serbia's prime minister, Ivica Dacic, earlier in October to prod them to improve their relations. A follow-up meeting in Brussels is scheduled soon. There is a lot at stake for both sides. Serbia wants to join the European Union. While the United States and the European Union are not demanding that Serbia endorse Kosovo's independence as a prerequisite for membership, they are insisting that Serbia make headway in normalizing its relations with Kosovo, a point that American officials recognize will be a step-by-step process. As for Kosovo, the European Union is unlikely to accept Kosovo as a member while the status of the north stretch of its territory is being challenged internally and its international borders are not fully recognized and under Kosovo's control. So far, the steps that the two sides have taken have been somewhat technical and have included understandings on recognizing diplomats and land records. Serbia has dropped objections to Kosovo's participation in international meetings. Serbs make up slightly more than 6 percent of Kosovo's 1.7 million residents. They are the dominant population in northern Kosovo, many also live in pockets in the south. Before departing Pristina, Mrs. Clinton, who urged Kosovo to protect and reach out to the Serb minority, met with several prominent Serbs who had fled the ethnic Albanian-dominated area of Kosovo but have returned, lured by the Kosovo's government's promise that the Serbian minority could live peacefully in Kosovo and have a role in political life there. Mrs. Clinton met with a ranking Serbian Orthodox official in Kosovo, a local Serbian parish priest and two ethnic Serbs who serve as ministers in the Kosovo government. The meeting was held at a church that was largely destroyed during a wave of ethnic Albanian rioting in March 2004 in which 34 churches were attacked. Only a fraction of the thousands of Serbs who have left the Albanian-dominated areas of Kosovo have returned. Continuing her Balkan swing, Mrs. Clinton next flew to Croatia to meet with leaders there.