Serbia boycotts Warsaw summit

Serbia’s President Boris Tadic is boycotting the summit of Eastern and Central European countries in Warsaw, Poland, because it is being attended by Kosovan president Atifete Jahjaga.

Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s independence. This means he has also passed up a chance to meet Barack Obama who will be a special guest at the summit. The talks will be wide-ranging but will centre on sharing experiences of making the transition to democracy.

Meanwhile EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has visited Pristina in Kosovo and held talks with Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.

She gave her reactions to the arrest of Ratko Mladic: “The arrest of Mr. Mladic is an important moment for Serbia. But the road to the European Union requires a number of things, from everyone. It requires a lot of work on the technical issues that need to be addressed, and it also requires us to move forward in a political direction with the whole of the European Union.”

The EU is currently presiding over talks between Serbia and Kosovo to resolve practical issues such as customs procedures.

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