EU wants "respect of Brussels deal procedures"

EU wants "respect of Brussels deal procedures"

BRUSSELS -- The EU expects the procedure envisaged in the Brussels agreement to be respected in case of the announced visit of Kosovo FM Hashim Thaci to Belgrade.

This is according to a spokesperson of the High EU representatives for foreign affairs and security policy, who made the statement on Friday.

"In the dialogue on normalization of relations, an agreement was reached concerning the procedure of mutual visits by Serbian and Kosovo officials and it envisages that all matters should be solved through liaison officers," Maja Kocijancic said during a news briefing.

She noted that the EU expects the procedure to be respected in this case as well.

Thaci has been invited to a conference about European integration of the Western Balkans by the Youth Education Committee NGO which will organize the meeting from April 23 to 25.

Serbian officials have said that Thaci's visit has not been agreed on with institutions, that it was needless - and that Thaci will be arrested in case he decides to come here because there is a valid arrest warrant against him on terrorism charges, related to his role as one of the leaders of the KLA during the 1998/99 war in Kosovo.

On Thursday, the NGO organizing the conference said Thaci had accepted their invitation.

Also on Thursday, reports from Brussels quoted officials as saying that the EU was "neither the initiator nor the organizer" of the planned gathering, and that it would not be "appropriate" for the it to comment.

EU sources also yesterday refused to directly comment on media reports that Brussels was pressuring Belgrade to "welcome Thaci."

"Our position is that we support everything that...