"Serbia, two more countries block Kosovo"


BELGRADE, PRIŠTINA, SKOPJE -- Kosovo has not been invited to the upcoming summit of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Ohrid.

  

Atifete Jahjaga (Beta, file)
This is because Serbia and two other member countries have made an objection based on the SEECP Statute, which states that only sovereign and recognized states can take part in the Summit, which Kosovo is not, Tanjug was told on Monday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belgrade.

The Ministry said the "valid objection" from Serbia and two other countries is based on the regional initiative's Statute, which regulates regional cooperation in South-East Europe and which states that only countries which have the format and structure of a sovereign and recognized country can participate in the Summit.

Earlier on Monday, the office of Kosovo's President Atifete Jahjaga released a statement saying that Kosovo is being kept from participating in the Summit due to objections made by Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, with Jahjaga noting that this was contrary to the agreement reached in Brussels.

Jahjaga has not received an official invitation to the SEECP Summit taking place on June 1 and 2 in Ohrid, reads the statement.

The office of Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said earlier that Kosovo has not been invited to the Summit.

The SEECP Summit has an established format and structure and, in accordance with the founding document and past practice, Macedonia cannot invite Kosovo without the consent of other countries, especially when it has been made aware that some member countries would cancel their participation if the invitation was extended, his office said in a statement.