MACEDONIAN LEADER CALLS KOSOVO A THREAT
Turkish Daily News - May 3, 2008 Saturday

Newly independent Kosovo poses a threat to Balkan stability, the president of neighboring Macedonia told a regional summit at this lakeside resort Friday.

"There are still risks which must not be underestimated," Branko Crvenkosvki said in a speech to leaders from central and southeast Europe.

"In this context, I would particularly mention the issue of Kosovo, the complexity of which is illustrated by the fact that even the European Union could not reach a common position on this issue." Officials from the 18 central and southeast European member countries of the Central European Initiative group began the two-day summit in Ohrid on issues such as Balkan stability and some member states efforts to join NATO and the EU.

The Initiative was formed in 1989 to strengthen ties between the region and the EU.

But even though Kosovo will be a key issue on the agenda, the former Serbian province was not invited to the meeting. Kosovo's leaders criticized that and insisted that an independent Kosovo is a reality that must be recognized.

However, Crvenkovski said such an invitation would have required a consensus from all 18 members of the Central European Initiative, and that that was not possible since member Serbia has refused to recognize Kosovo's Feb. 17 declaration of independence.

The EU signed a pre-membership trade-and-aid pact with Serbia this week in an attempt to boost pro-Western parties before May 11 elections in Serbia.

Macedonia, with its own large and restive Albanian minority, wants to establish good relations with Kosovo, but has not yet recognized it because of a border dispute.

Albanian President Bamir Topi told the summit that Kosovo should receive a clear signal it will eventually become part of the EU and NATO expansion process.

"That would guarantee that the political emancipation of the Western Balkans has entered an irreversible path," he said

A draft summit joint statement says that EU and NATO integration should not be considered completed without inclusion of all Western Balkan states.

"However, the region is still not irreversibly on the road to Europe," the draft document obtained by The Associated Press said.

The CEI members are Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. All were represented at the summit by heads of state, except Romania, Italy and Ukraine, which sent ambassadors.Ten are EU members, three have EU candidate status and five have not joined the bloc. Turkey, which is not a member of the Central European Initiative or the EU, also attended the summit.

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