Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said on Saturday any
attempt to link Serbia's European perspective with the developments
in Kosovo would be erroneous and counter-productive.
On the European perspective of the Western Balkans, the minister
said "this rapprochement must not be linked to issues other than
the European prerequisites. Any attempt at linking Serbia's
European perspective with the developments in Kosovo would be
erroneous and counter-productive."
This position was endorsed by her Bulgarian and Romanian
counterparts Ivaylo Kalfin and Adrian Cioroianu, respectively.
The three foreign ministers, who represent the NATO and EU
member countries in Southeast Europe, met in Athens on Saturday and
agreed to boost their cooperation in view of the critical
developments in Kosovo and the difficult situation in Serbia, and
also reaffirmed their devotion to the European perspective of the
western Balkans, which was rejuvenated by the recent Greek
initiative "5 proposals with a timetable."
To a question on whether this would eliminate an incentive to
Serbia for finding a solution to the Kosovo issue, Bakoyannis
replied: "We don't want to place Serbia before a dilemma. No one
wishes to put forward the dilemma of the European perspective with
Kosovo as the counterbalance."
She stressed, however, that the European perspective of the
Balkan neighbors must be founded on firm foundations such as
respect of International Law, the International Treaties, good
neighbor relations, peaceful resolution of differences, and seeking
mutually acceptable solutions to outstanding issues.
Regarding the future status of Kosovo, Bakoyannis said that "we
must act with lucidity, without haste, because it is a complex and
complicated problem, and we must give diplomacy the opportunity to
achieve a viable solution that will contribute to regional
stability."
In their joint communique, the three foreign ministers stress
the need for the signing of an Association and Stability Pact with
Serbia as soon as possible, and for the encouragement of the other
countries of the region to also submit accession requests to the
EU, while they also express the hope that the European Council (
summit) of December 2008 will grant candidate status to every
applicant.
On a regional level, they stressed the importance of cooperation
in the framework of the Black Sea Cooperation Economic Cooperation
and the new EU neighborhood in the Black Sea.
(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2007)
