Kosovo-Serbia row threatens EU-Balkans conference in Slovenia

  • 12/15/2022
  • 17:20
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   Pristina/Belgrade, March 02, 2010, SPA -- The hostility among leaders of formerYugoslavia emerged again today, threatening to ruin a summit ofEuropean Union and Balkan leaders planned in Slovenia thismonth, according to dpa.   Kosovo's president, Fatmir Sejdiu, said he would attend theconference in Brdo, near Kranj, only of he is invited as the head ofa fully fledged state.   "President Sejdiu has not yet received a formal invitation for theEU-Western Balkans conference in Brdo," Sejdiu's spokesman, XhavitBeqiri, told the German Press Agency dpa. "The president willrepresent our country and be equal with other participants."   In case Sejdiu does not receive an invitation as "president of theRepublic of Kosovo ... he will not attend," Beqiri said.   If Sejdiu receives the invitation, Serbian President Boris Tadicwill not attend. Last month the same row marred the new CroatianPresident Ivo Josipovic's inauguration, as Belgrade boycotted itbecause of Pristina's presence.   Belgrade media on Tuesday quoted sources in Slovenia as sayingthat Slovenia planned a compromise by inviting Sejdiu to attend as arepresentative of Kosovo/UNMIK.   UNMIK is the United Nations administration that governed theformer Serbian province between the end of the war there in 1999 andKosovo's declaration of independence.   Diplomatic maneuvering by Serbia and its superpower ally Russiahave secured a minimal presence of UNMIK to remain in Kosovo. Serbiacontinues to insist that Kosovo is its territory and that it can berepresented only by the UN mission.   But while the Serbian side said Kosovo/UNMIK is acceptable, Sejdiuflatly dismissed the idea.   In the two years since it declared independence, Kosovo has beenrecognized by 65 nations, including the United States, 22 out of the27 EU countries and all countries in the region excluding Serbia,Greece and Romania.   Serbia, which hopes to become an EU membership candidate in thenear future, recently received warnings from France and Germany torelax its position regarding Kosovo and to begin working with it onpractical issues, even if it continues refusing to recognize it.--SPA 20:50 LOCAL TIME 17:50 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/754127

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