Bulgaria, Greece, Romania Warn against Tying Serbia's EU Prospect to Kosovo

Politics | December 22, 2007, Saturday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Bulgaria, Greece, Romania Warn against Tying Serbia's EU Prospect to Kosovo The foreign ministers of Bulgaria Ivaylo Kalfin (pictured), Romania and Greece discussed the status of Kosovo in Athens in the framework of the three-way meeting of the EU Balkan member states. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)

Serbia's eventual accession to the European Union must not be linked to the Kosovo issue, the foreign ministers of Bulgaria, Romania and Greece urged on Saturday.

Ivaylo Kalfin, Theodora Bakoyianni and Adrian Cioroianu discussed the status of Kosovo in Athens in the framework of the three-way meeting of the EU Balkan member states.

Greek Foreign Minister Theodora Bakoyianni voiced the warmest support for the decision of the European Union to send a supervising mission to Kosovo.

"Nobody wants to put Serbia into this kind of dilemma (to choose between EU entry and holding on to Kosovo). These are two separate issues; any attempt to link Serbian accession with developments in Kosovo would be wrong and counterproductive," Bakoyianni told reporters in a joint news conference with Bulgaria's Ivaylo Kalfin and Romania's Adrian Mihai Cioroianu.

Asked whether Greece and Bulgaria would recognize an independent Kosovo, Bakoyianni said that "we are not there yet. ... We will evaluate the situation on the ground (and) we must strive for a unified EU position."

Bulgaria's Ivaylo Kalfin stressed that Serbia should sign as quickly as possible a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU and achieve candidate status.

According to him Serbia can make its first step to EU membership as early as late January next year, but only if it meets all requirements, including handing over those who orchestrated ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina to the Hague war crimes tribunal.

The foreign ministers were unanimous that a unilateral solution to the issue of the future status of Kosovo is inadequate, since the settlement should be international.

Kalfin, Bakoyianni and Cioroianu will meet early next year in Romanian capital Bucharest to prepare a summit meeting of the presidents of the three countries in Sofia next year.

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