Romania, Cyprus join Spain on Kosovo - what about Belgrade?

Belgrade is still considering the format in which Serbia will be represented at the May 17 EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia, Vecernje Novosti is reporting.

According to the Belgrade-based newspaper, the reason are "the changed circumstances" - since, beside Spain, Romania and Cyprus - also EU members who do not recognize Kosovo - are close to deciding not to attend the main discussion at the summit.

These countries do not want to be at the same table with Pristina's representative (i.e., Kosovo President Hashim Thaci), nor do they want to be photographed with him.

The daily further writes that at the same time, the EU expects our country to have its representative at the gathering in Sofia.

According to the article, Spain, Romania, and Cyprus are close to resorting to "plan B" - have their officials attend only the working dinner one day before the summit, and then be represented at the summit by other EU members.

This would not be new practice within the EU, because it is possible for one member-state to represent another.

The problem here, the newspaper noted, is that there is no common position on a topic like Kosovo within the EU - so the question remains, who would represent Spain, Romania, or Cyprus.