The ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Kosovo violated no law by declaring independence will "sober" Serbia, the German News Agency cited Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci as saying on Sunday.
Thaci also called on Belgrade to recognise its former province and turn to cooperation.
"The best choice for Serbia is to recognise Kosovo as soon as possible, so they can cooperate and help each to integrate with the
European Union," Thaci said at the airport in the capital Pristina after returning from the United States.
He was in the US when the ICJ issued its non-binding ruling on Kosovo's unilateral secession from Serbia. Belgrade had hoped for an opinion that would have discouraged more countries from recognising its former province, which has a 90-per-cent Albanian majority.
Dpa cited Thaci as saying that the ICJ ruling removed all barriers for previously reluctant nations to recognize his country.
"There are no more reasons for any country in the world not to recognize the independence of Kosovo," he said.
So far, 69 UN member states have recognised Kosovo, including the big Western powers, while around 120 have not.
