Balkan summit marred by Serbia walkout

Serbian President Boris Tadi? left a summit of the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Bulgaria in protest after Kosovo representative Skender Hyseni was given the floor.

The otherwise successful summit, which took place on 21 May in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Pomorie, was the eleventh gathering of the SEECP, originally a form of regional co-operation launched by Bulgaria in 1996. 

The walkout is the first diplomatic incident in the framework of regional co-operation between the two countries since Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia in February (EURACTIV 18/02/08).

While Kosovo’s declaration received the blessings of the EU and the US, it prompted angry reactions from Serb politicians and their Russian allies, who branded it “illegal”. 

Broken promise? 

Tadi?’s dramatic move came after Jolyon Naegele, the representative of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), gave the floor to Kosovar Foreign Minister Hyseni. 

Diplomats who attended the meeting told EURACTIV that Naegele had broken a gentleman’s agreement not to give the floor to the Kosovo representative. 

Kosovo had been invited to the summit by consensus (meaning with the agreement of Serbia) as a “special invitee” under the UNMIK/Kosovo umbrella. But Serbia’s condition for this had been that the Kosovo official, who was accompanying the UNMIK representative, would not be given the floor, the sources explained. 

Giving the floor to a Kosovar official is not a novelty for UNMIK, a spokesperson for the UN Kosovo administration told EURACTIV. Moreover, he said he was not aware of any “gentleman’s agreement”. 

Summit a success despite hiccup 

Despite the hiccup, the summit succeeded in adopting a Joint Declaration and key documents on establishing the SEECP’s new instrument for regional co-operation – the Regional Cooperation Council, which will be based in Sarajevo. It also succeeded in passing the SEECP presidency baton from Bulgaria to Moldova. 

Serbia makes an effort not to cause obstacles to regional cooperation unless provoked, diplomats said. What’s more, the Serbs hope that Moldova, which takes over the SEECP presidency after Bulgaria, will never invite Kosovo representatives again, the sources explained. 

In a speech before his abrupt departure, Tadi? had expressed hopes that a new government could be formed quickly enough after the Serbian elections, which he won on 11 May. According to the Serb Constitution a government must be formed 90 days after the poll. 

Meanwhile, the situation on the internal front seemed to deteriorate for Tadi? after his main political opponents, who had rejected closer ties with the EU in protest over Western support for Kosovo’s independence, said they had agreed in principle to form a coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia. If the Socialists agree to join this, the anti-Tadi? camp would have the necessary majority to form a government. 

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