Kosovo PM cancels trip to Czech summit after Zeman comments

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has canceled his participation at a summit of Central European countries following denigrating words from the Czech president against his territory.

Haradinaj said on Thursday that he told Czech PM Andrej Babis he could not take part in the summit of the Visegrad Group – comprising Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary – with Western Balkan countries due to his busy political agenda ahead of Kosovo’s early general election due on October 6, AP reports.

During a visit to Serbia on Wednesday, Czech President Milos Zeman suggested that his government should revoke its recognition of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia. Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek dismissed the idea, finding no reason to reconsider the decision.

Kosovo’s 2008 independence is not recognized by Serbia, Russia, China and a number of other states.