Tadic absent as Balkan leaders meet

Summit was overshadowed by Boris Tadic's last minute decision not to attend bceuse of Kosovo's representation as an independent state.

An EU-Balkans summit aimed at speeding up the region's European integration met on Saturday, overshadowed by Serb President Boris Tadic's last minute decision not to attend.

The summit had been planned as a first meeting of all the region's political leaders in two decades, but Tadic cancelled over Kosovo's representation as an independent state.

Belgrade still regards Kosovo, which split from Serbia in 2008, as its southern province.

"We have concluded that the crucial problem (in the region) is: everybody needs to recognise everybody," the host of the meeting Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor told journalists alongside his Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor.

He added mutual recognition "is a fundamental open issue that blocks the (EU integration) process here."

Kosor welcomed the presence at the summit of Bosnian Prime Minister Nikola Spiric, whose country is the only one at the summit that doesn't recognise Kosovo, saying politicians in the region "should show a little more courage and assume more responsibility."

"It is important to stress that bilateral issues should not be linked to the European (integration) path," Kosor said.

The plenary meeting of the leaders of Albania and all the former Yugoslav states except Serbia was held in an atmosphere "of dialogue and a culture of construction. It is much easier to destruct than construct," she said.

"It is regrettable that President Tadic isn't here," Albania's Prime Minister Salih Berisha said on his arrival, while adding that "this is definitely a very important meeting."

Belgrade has said it would boycott the meeting if Pristina's leaders attended as state representatives, with Serb officials only prepared to meet them if they attend under the United Nations administration UNMIK flag.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who had agreed to attend the conference only in an equal standing as all other countries of the region, warned Tadic by continuing to boycott international meetings he would keep Serbia isolated "for a long time."

"We are elected leaders and we have a responsability to make big decisions, not just to keep a status quo," Thaci said adding his government plans to attend all regional and international meetings to which it is invited.

"The best solution is if Kosovo recognises Serbia and Serbia recognises Kosovo. That would finish the problem... I'm sure that will happen sooner or later," Thaci said speaking to journalists at the end of the summit.

EU enlargement commission Stefan Fule was upbeat when he arrived at the Brdo pri Kranju conference centre near the Slovenian capital Ljbubljana.

"I believe this conference will be a step in the right direction, that the countries (of the region) understand that it is in their best interests to work together," he said.

The summit, which EU President Herman Van Rompuy decided not to attend because of the Kosovo spat, was conceived by Slovenia and Croatia whose independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 ushered in a decade of regional bloodshed.

The meeting, hosted by Slovenia, the only former Yugoslav state that has joined the EU, and Croatia, which aspires to become a member by 2012, was attended by the prime ministers of Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro.