Albanian president cancels participation in Ohrid summit

TIRANA, SKOPJE Albanian President Bujar Nishani has canceled his attendance at the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) summit in Ohrid June 1-2. The reason is the fact that Kosovo President Atifeta Jahjaga was not invited to the event, the Albanian newspaper Panorama said and the Macedonian media quoted them. Albanian president cancels participation in Ohrid summit Jahjaga was not invited to the event, which is contrary to the spirit of cooperation and dialogue in the region, which facilitates choosing EU integration, Nishani stated. Kosovo was left out of the summit because of pressure from Serbia, which was contrary to the agreement from Brussels between Belgrade and Pristina, he added. Jahjaga's office stated on Monday that Kosovo had been denied participation at the summit "because of objections by Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was contrary to the agreement from Brussels, which said that no side would obstruct or incite others to obstruct the other side's EU integration." Kosovo has not been invited to the SEECP Summit in Ohrid in Macedonia, because Serbia and two more member countries filed a remark based on the SEECP Statute which envisages that the Summit can be attended only by sovereign and recognised countries and Kosovo is not one of them, Tanjug learnt at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belgrade on Monday. Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia Vincent Degert said on Tuesday that, "strictly speaking", the Brussels agreement does not cover SEECP, but added that having the spirit of Europe in mind, the EU would like to see this attendance included as well because the SEECP structure in a way serves as a political guideline in regional cooperation. Bujar Nishani (Beta, file) Tanjug

Albanian president cancels participation in Ohrid summit

Jahjaga was not invited to the event, which is contrary to the spirit of cooperation and dialogue in the region, which facilitates choosing EU integration, Nishani stated. Kosovo was left out of the summit because of pressure from Serbia, which was contrary to the agreement from Brussels between Belgrade and Priština, he added.

Jahjaga's office stated on Monday that Kosovo had been denied participation at the summit "because of objections by Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was contrary to the agreement from Brussels, which said that no side would obstruct or incite others to obstruct the other side's EU integration."

Kosovo has not been invited to the SEECP Summit in Ohrid in Macedonia, because Serbia and two more member countries filed a remark based on the SEECP Statute which envisages that the Summit can be attended only by sovereign and recognised countries and Kosovo is not one of them, Tanjug learnt at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belgrade on Monday.

Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia Vincent Degert said on Tuesday that, "strictly speaking", the Brussels agreement does not cover SEECP, but added that having the spirit of Europe in mind, the EU would like to see this attendance included as well because the SEECP structure in a way serves as a political guideline in regional cooperation.