"What we are seeing now is, with the talks going on, is without any doubt the consequence of that pressure that has been put on by the international community", he said in an interview with HARDtalk's Tim Sebastian in Brussels.

As the pressure builds up in the Kosovo peace talks, Nato continues to face a tough challenge to bring peace to the province. Since October the organisation has faced criticism for not following up on military threats against the Serbs and for not using force to bring war criminals to justice.

Mr Solana admitted there was still much to be done to bring peace to the troubled Balkan region but was optimistic that progress could be made.

"The test is now that these negotiations succeed and that this conflict, that only has political solution, gets a political solution in which the Kosovars get a profound capacity for self-government.

"I hope that they will finish in a firm settlement between the Serbs and the Kosovars with only two conditions: the status quo is not possible and independence for Albania, for Kosovo, is not possible", he said.

Political solution first

If the peace talks bring only an interim settlement, Nato is looking at plans to send in up to 30,000 troops to keep the peace. But the organisation has made clear that its troops will only go into Kosovo once a peace deal is accepted by all sides.

Mr Solana told HARDtalk that Nato was always prepared to use military force, but only to back a political solution.

Javier Solana: "We have done a lot"

He said: ""If at the end of the day it is necessary to deploy ground troops to implement an agreement, the troops will be there."

Since October there have been several reports of massacres in Kosovo including the slaughter in Racak of more than 40 ethnic Albanians. Mr Solana said there was no way Nato could have known this would happen.

He said: "Because something may happen is not a reason to use force. You don't bomb a country because something may happen."

Expansion plans

Nato was set up 50 years ago to deal with the Cold War. The Cold War is over, but Mr Solana is leading plans to expand the organisation into the eastern European countries of the former Soviet bloc - the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

Javier Solana: "Consensus prevails"

Nato already has 16 member countries but Mr Solana insisted expansion was necessary and possible.

"At the end of the day consensus prevails," he said "And everybody knows that getting consensus on a particular decision is better than no consensus.

"It takes time maybe, but that is life, that is politics."

Breathing freedom

This may seem strange from a man who once opposed his native Spain joining Nato in the first place. He was a social democrat who fought against Franco and then went on to become MP for Madrid.

Mr Solana told Tim Sebastian about his life under Franco's regime. It was when the country became a democracy that he felt Spain was ready to be part of Europe.

Javier Solana: "It was the happiest day of my life probably"

"I was a fighter against the dictatorship of Franco," he said. "When Franco died and we started our democratic life I did a campaign that led to a referendum which asked the people of my county for a 'yes' to be part of Nato and to be part of the European union.

"What changed my life was to breathe freedom and democracy in my country. That was the happiest day of my life probably."

You can watch the interview in full on BBC World and News 24 at the times shown below.

BBC World (times shown in GMT)
February 9 1530 and 1930
February 10 0730 and 0930

News 24 (times shown in GMT)
February 9 2030
February 10 0330