Berisha clashes with Serbia at CEI summit

TIRANA, Nov. 27 – Prime Minister Sali Berisha took part Tuesday at a meeting of the Central European Initiative (CEI) member states’ heads of government held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Among the topics discussed at the meeting were improving co-operation with the European Union to achieve more assistance to CEI members who were not EU members as part of their integration into European structures.
The meeting also discussed Kosova’s status.
Berisha’s words on Kosova’s independence caused an immediate negative reaction from the Serb delegation.
Berisha said that Serbia was opposed to Kosova independence due to “absurd colonial ambitions.”
“Serbia cannot have the solution of the Kosova status as a pawn and threaten peace in the region and open the way to radicalism,” said Berisha.
Serb deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic, present at the meeting, had an immediate reaction, saying that no one could violate Serbia’s territorial integrity. Afterward he left the hall.
Berisha insisted that Serbia’s refusal to recognize President Ahtisaari’s proposal of international supervised independence for Kosovo was blocking the peace process in the region. He also appealed to Russia to end the alleged threat of blocking the U.N. Security Council decision on Kosova.
“Belgrade’s lack of realism is imposing on the Kosova leadership the only option remaining to themآilateral recognition of its independence,” said Berisha. The Serbian representatives at the forum left the meeting insulted after an argument with Berisha. It was up to the host, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, to mediate their return at the forum.
“Leaving the table of talks was not very polite but coming back is a kindly act,” said Berisha. The CEI was established in 1989 as an intergovernmental forum for political, economic and cultural co-operation among its member states. Its main aim was to help transition countries come closer to the EU.
The organization is composed of 18 Member States: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.