News | Serbian Unity Congress

February 19, 2008 on 6:32 am | In Kosovo & Metohija, News in English |

BUCHAREST — Romania will close down its diplomatic office in Pristine, President Traian Basescu said today.

The move comes since Romania refuses to recognize the unilateral declaration of independence by Serbia’s province of Kosovo, Basescu explained.

Basescu said that Romania will not interfere in the development of Kosovo’s institutions and that the presence of Romania’s Gendarmerie in the province is covered by the UN resolution, Rompress reported.

Romania is engaged only in keeping public order, said Basescu.

Romania’s Parliament late on Monday confirmed the government decision not to recognize the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo.

The Declaration was backed by 357 members of the parliament and senators, while 27 MPs of the Democratic Union of Hungarians voted against it.

Hungarians request Romania to recognize independence of Kosovo and believe that Kosovo is a “good precedent for Hungarians making up the majority of the population in some areas of Romania to achieve territorial autonomy,” agencies reported.

Related posts:

• Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo: An Abbreviated History, Richard Jansen (Colorado State University)
• Into the Bosnian Quagmire (Part 3), antiwar.com
• Congress was Alerted in 2005, Republican Riot blog (Julia Gorin)
• The Chains That Bind: Constitutions, then and now, antiwar.com (Nebojsa Malic)
• Slovenia ‘Kept EU Unity Over Kosovo’, Balkan Insight