Van Rompuy upsets West Balkans

The West Balkan conference in Slovenia took place on Saturday without the presence of invited high EU representatives. The daily Delo criticises the absence of EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy: "Europe has once again shown how little interest it has in the situation in the West Balkans. But perhaps the claims made during the conference that Europe is wary of all the accumulated difficulties on the Balkans and is in this way expressing its desire for a break before further EU expansion are true. Herman Van Rompuy has shown himself to be an absolute beginner when it comes to understanding the Balkans. His absence was highly symbolic. By failing to attend he unknowingly lent support to Serbia's total block of communication with Kosovo and he also raised Serbia to the privileged status of a regional power because he made his attendance dependent on that of Serb President [Boris] Tadić."

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