BRUSSELS, May 29 (Reuter) - European Union foreign ministers, grappling with the result of previous failures to deal with Europe's worst conflict since World War Two, stressed on Monday the need for a diplomatic solution to the Bosnian crisis.

British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd told reporters negotiations with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic on recognising Bosnia in return for lifting sanctions needed to be completed.

"That deal is close. It needs to be made," Hurd said after a breakfast meeting with his French counterpart Herve de Charette before the start of a routine EU ministers meeting.

International mediators hope a deal would seal the split between Milosevic, who last year agreed to seal the border with Bosnia, and the Bosnian Serb leadership and allow them to close the chapter on former Yugoslavia with a modicum of dignity.

The Contact Group of major powers consisting of France, Russia, the United States, Germany, and Britain meets later on Monday in the Hague. It has been trying to sell a peace plan carving Bosnia up 51-49 percent between the Sarajevo government and the Serbs.

German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, echoing similar comments in London and Paris, said the international community should strive for a political solution to the Bosnian crisis and not rely solely on robust military intervention.

"Naturally in addition to military considerations we have to push the diplomatic process," Kinkel told German radio before leaving for Brussels and then later the Netherlands.

France, which has the most peacekeepers in Bosnia, also ruled out a military solution, but kept up pressure for beefing up the U.N. Protection Force in former Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR).

After a weekend of frantic diplomacy, a clear twin-track approach of pushing a diplomatic settlement and giving the U.N. force more teeth has emerged as the only answer to more NATO air attacks or "cutting and running".

"There is no military solution on the part of the international community... A war to impose a solution would be folly and so we must again pursue the diplomatic process," Prime Minister Alain Juppe said in Paris.

After meeting de Charette, Hurd said French reinforcements had not been ruled out, but said the priority, while refocusing on diplomatic initiatives, was to regroup the scattered U.N. force before strengthening it.

"The U.N. needs to be regrouped so it is less vulnerable and weak before it needs to be strengthened," Hurd said.

He was speaking only hours after his government announced it was sending about 6,000 reinforcements to Bosnia where Serb forces have taken hostage more than 30 British soldiers. He said the decision did not rule out a possible withdrawal.

"Withdrawal remains a possibility. It is not desirable but it remains a possibility and of course the reinforcements we are sending would be useful if we came to the conclusion that it was necessary to withdraw," Hurd said.

U.S. officials endorsed the French plans to beef up the U.N. peacekeeping force and said they were prepared to offer equipment to help it defend itself against Bosnian Serb aggression.