Organizer: Thaci confirms visit to Belgrade

Organizer: Thaci confirms visit to Belgrade

BELGRADE -- Hasim Thaci has "confirmed his visit to Belgrade to attend the conference on European integration of the Western Balkans due to take place from April 23 to 25."

This was announced late on Thursday by the organizer, the Youth Education Committee NGO.

The organization said that it invited ministers of foreign affairs of "Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo, representatives of the EU delegation in Serbia, embassy officials and expert public" to attend the gathering dubbed, "European integration of the Western Balkans: We can do better together."

They will "discuss the cooperation between the countries in the region in the European integration process and the question as to whether the Belgrade-Pristina constitutes a challenge or room for progress, as well as the decade of Macedonian candidacy for EU membership and the readiness of Bosnia to continue its European integration path."

The NGO said that Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Oskar Benedikt and British Ambassador Denis Keefe, as well as Serbian opposition MPs Borislav Stefanovic and Dejan Radenkovic all confirmed their participation.

Also on Thursday, Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic explained that the arrest warrant for Thaci - a former leader of the KLA who now serves as foreign minister and deputy prime minister in the government in Pristina - is still valid, while Interior Minister Nebojsta Stefanovic said that if Thaci showed up in Belgrade, he would be "detained and brought to justice."

Despite these statements, the Reuters agency late on Thursday reported that Thaci's arrest in Belgrade would represent "a diplomatic incident that would anger the EU," and...