Van Rompuy condemns Kosovo violence, calls for dialogue

(ZAGREB) - EU President Herman Van Rompuy condemned on Monday recent violence in Kosovo and called for restraint and dialogue in the volatile Balkans region as he toured the former Yugoslavia.

"As far as the stability of the region is concerned and also in the light of the incidents in Kosovo last Friday and this morning I would like to recall my message of condemning violence, calling for restraint, calmness, stability and dialogue," Van Rompuy told journalists in Zagreb.

In a recent flare-up of violence, gunmen shot a Serb member of the Kosovo parliament in the leg Monday outside his home in the flashpoint northern Kosovo town of Kosovska Mitrovica, police said.

On Friday one man was killed and 11 wounded in an explosion in the same town following a Serb protest against the opening of an office of the Kosovo government.

Van Rompuy was in the Croatian capital on the third stop of his two-day tour in the former Yugoslavia, that took him earlier Monday to Slovenia and Serbia.

Earlier, Van Rompuy and Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor expressed concern over the escalation of violence in northern Kosovo, the news agency STA reported.

Van Rompuy met with Serbian President Boris Tadic later on Monday in Belgrade but the two leaders issued only a short statement saying that they had discussed current events in Kosovo without giving any details.

In Slovenia Van Rompuy insisted that the future of the Western Balkans lay in the European Union and in NATO.

Slovenia is the only one of the six former Yugoslav republics to be a member of the EU. Among the other five -- Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia -- Croatia is the most advanced on the path to become the bloc's 28th member by 2012.

"Croatia's success will also give a positive signal to the region by proving that accession to the EU is attainable," Van Rompuy said in Zagreb after meeting Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor.

"Negotiations (with Brussels) have entered the final phase," he said encouraging Zagreb to continue preparations for eventual EU membership "with energy and determination."

"The coming months will be crucial," Van Rompuy stressed as Kosor repeated Zagreb's wish to conclude talks by the end of the year.

Serbian president Tadic said after meeting Van Rompuy that he "expressed his discontent with the slow-down in the process of European integration", the Serbian presidency said in its statement.

"(Tadic) believes that it is vital for the future of the Western Balkans to be integrated into the European Union as quickly as possible. All other solutions will be useless for the Western Balkans and for the EU," it added.

In June the European Union authorised, for Serbia, the entry into force of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, a trade and aid pact considered the first official step on the long road towards full membership in the EU.

Earlier, in an interview published in the Croatian daily Jutarnji List, Van Rompuy had said integration of the volatile Balkans into the EU was key for regional stability.

"The European future of the region is key for its stability and the intention is that the process of EU integration clearly continues in the most effective possible way," Van Rompuy told the newspaper.

"The European Union has on several occasions confirmed its commitment to the enlargement process and the European perspective of the Western Balkans," he added.

Van Rompuy is to travel to Kosovo Tuesday to meet leaders there.