
Spain has vetoed a draft text of a joint declaration planned for publication during the EU-Western Balkans summit in Bulgaria in May, daily El Pais reports.
According to the Spanish newspaper, ‘the reason is not the EU foreign policy’ – instead the goal is to avoid having the name and the signature of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy ‘on the same document, at the same level’ as that of the Kosovo leader.
Spain is among five EU member-states that do not recognize Kosovo as independent.
El Pais further claims that this information has been confirmed by several diplomatic sources, and that Rajoy will most likely leave Sofia and the summit before a meeting that will be attended by top representatives of Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The Spanish prime minister will be present only a day earlier, during an informal dinner with other leaders of EU member states.