Kosova on the agenda, but not invited to regional summit in Macedonia

OHRID, May 3 – Kosova was a key issue on the agenda of a
summit of leaders from central and southeastern Europe last weekend,
though Kosova was not in attendance.
The leaders of 19 Central and southeastern European countries
agreed Saturday that European Union integration will not be complete
unless all Western Balkan states are included.
The Central European Initiative was formed in 1989 to strengthen
ties between the region and the EU. Its 18 members are Albania,
Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech
Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland,
Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Albanian President Bamir Topi also took part at the Fifteenth
Summit of the Central and Eastern European countries in Ohrid.
Topi spoke about Albania’s integration into Europe, the challenges
of EU enlargement, regional integration and the opportunity for a
stronger and competing economy, the perspectives of investments
and the challenges of facing the increasing need for energy.
He also mentioned Kosova as a new factor of stability in the region,
urging all participants to recognize a new state.
Slovak president Ivan Gasparovic said Kosova remains the “hottest
topic” regarding peace in the Western Balkans.
Kosova was on the agenda, but the former Serbian province was
not invited. Crvenkovski said an invitation would have required
agreement of all the group’s members, but Serbia does not recognize
Kosova’s independence.
“Nobody can blackmail Serbia to recognize Kosovo just to get
into the European Union,” Serbian president Boris Tadic told reporters
in Ohrid.
Organizers of the gathering could not invite Kosova as Serbia
had refused to recognize the territory’s declared separation.
Macedonian President, Branko Crvenkovski, host of the two-day
summit at the Ohrid resort, said a decision to invite neighboring
Kosova would have required agreement from all participants of the
18 nations that make up the Central European Initiative, formed in
1989 to pursue regional cooperation.
Kosova’s leaders reacted with annoyance to being excluded and
insisted an independent Kosova was a reality that had to be recognized.
“Nobody can ignore the independence of Kosovo,” Kosova Prime
Minister, Hashim Thaci, told reporters on Tuesday while criticizing
the Macedonian government.
Besides Serbia, which is fiercely opposed to independence for
Kosova and sent troops there to battle ethnic Albanian separatists in
the late 1990s, several other nations in the region are wary of recognizing
the declared split.
They include Romania, which has a sizable Hungarian minority
and worries that recognizing ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosova
could encourage breakaway sentiment at home.
Macedonia, with its own large and restive Albanian minority, wants
to establish good relations with Kosova, but has not yet recognized
it and will not take a clear stand on the issue until after its parliamentary
election in June.