Tadic Will Skip Conference With Obama Over Kosovo

Serbian President Boris Tadic | Photo by FoNet

Serbian President Boris Tadic will not attend a regional conference with US President Barack Obama scheduled to be held in Warsaw on Friday and Saturday, because Kosovo was invited to participate as an equal state.

With the decision, Serbia continues its policy of not participating in international events where Kosovo officials are present as representatives of a sovereign country.

As Balkan Insight has learned from the president's cabinet, Serbia's participation would indicate that it indirectly recognises Kosovo's independence.

"[The Serbian] President will not attend the Warsaw summit because Kosovo is represented symmetrically with other participants," sources from Tadic's cabinet told Balkan Insight on Tuesday.

The former Serbian province declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008 and since then has been recognised by 75 out of 192 UN member states and 22 out of 27 EU member states.

Poland is one of the European countries that have recognised Kosovo as independent state. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said that his country has no reason to exclude Kosovo's President Atifete Jahjaga from the event.

Meanwhile, Serbian media report that Romania and Slovakia, two of the EU countries which have not recognised Kosovo, told the summit organisers that they would also skip the event due to the presence of Kosovo.

Tadic has passed up a number of conferences and celebrations in the past over the same issue, including the inauguration of Croatian President Ivo Josipovic in February 2010 as well as a regional conference on the EU in Brdo, Slovenia in March 2010.