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Posted by
Olog-hai
on Sat May 28 17:15:05 2011, in response to EU Taking Over Kosovo (PM's human organ trading), posted by Olog-hai on Fri Dec 17 01:18:51 2010.
edf40wrjww2msgDetailOT:detailStr fiogf49gjkf0d But what's new about the EU being chummy with tyrants.
Deutsche Press-Agentur via M&C
EU's Ashton invites controversial Kosovo premier to BrusselsMay 27, 2011, 13:57 GMT
Prizren, Kosovo/Brussels — Kosovo Premier Hashim Thaci, who was stung in December by allegations that he headed a human organs harvesting ring, was on Friday invited to Brussels by the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.
The accusations, also including drug and arms smuggling, were levelled in a report by the Council of Europe, and were partly based on Western intelligence reports. Thaci dismissed them as slander.
"It's my great pleasure to invite you to come to Brussels, where I hope I will be able to return your wonderful hospitality today, and to continue the dialogue as well," Ashton said in a news conference with Thaci in the Kosovan town of Prizren.
Aside from the personal controversy over Thaci, a former guerrilla leader, visits by Kosovan leaders to the EU are sensitive because not all countries in the bloc have recognized the former Serbian province as an independent state.
"Within the European Union, there are different views" on Kosovo's status, Ashton acknowledged. "What I want to do is to work to make sure that we find ourselves welcoming Kosovo and Serbia into the European Union in the best possible way," she added.
While Serbia is refusing to recognize Kosovo, it has agreed to enter into EU-brokered talks with Pristina aimed at resolving practical problems linked to the secession. Those have yet to produce concrete results.
In Kosovo, Ashton also reiterated her congratulations to Serbian President Boris Tadic for the previous day's arrest of suspected war criminal Ratko Mladic.
In the press conference where he announced the capture, Tadic insisted that Serbia wants the United Nations to investigate the organ trafficking allegations on Thaci and his associates.
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