Kosovo should join EU as part of Serbia - Tadic
By Fatos Bytyci
DECANI, Kosovo (Reuters) - Belgrade would like to see Kosovo join the European Union alongside the rest of the Balkans but as part of Serbia, President Boris Tadic said on Wednesday.
The Serbian leader spoke during an Orthodox Christmas Eve visit to a famed monastery in western Kosovo that sparked a small protest by Kosovo Albanians before his arrival.
"I would like to see not only Serbia -- which means Kosovo -- in the European Union, but all southeast countries, to be integrated in the European Union as soon as possible, I hope in 2014," Tadic told journalists.
It was his third visit since Kosovo, with a 90-percent Albanian majority, declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
Serbia is one of several Balkan countries that have applied to join the EU, but Kosovo has no immediate prospect because some EU members such as Spain and Greece do not recognise its independence.
Belgrade does not recognise Kosovo's statehood and supports its 120,000 Serb minority by creating and financing parallel government structures and refusing to recognise Pristina institutions.
Serbia cherishes the territory as the cradle of its Orthodox Christianity. Many old churches and monasteries still dot its landscape, including the 14th century Decani Monastery, a site U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited last year.
About 100 Albanian protesters blocked the road for two hours en route to the monastery, where Tadic was to spend the night. NATO soldiers from Germany and Italy guarded the complex. Continued...
