"Serbia is withdrawing its ambassadors from Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria in response to their recognition of Kosovo as an independent state, the Serbian Foreign Ministry said at the end of last week.The three neighbours on Wednesday dealt a blow to the Serb campaign to overturn Kosovo's month-old independence by announcing they would establish ties with the new republic.
"Following official notification the Foreign Ministry has given orders to the ambassadors in Croatia and Hungary to leave their posts," said ministry spokeswoman Vesna Sekerezovic.
"The ambassadors have 48 hours to return to Serbia."
She said the embassy in Sofia was expecting Bulgarian authorities to send official notification on the recognition of Kosovo later in the day. "Once they do that, the ambassador in Sofia will be told to leave," she said.
"We regret, but we acknowledge the withdrawal of the ambassador," Gabor Szentivanyi, a state secretary at the Hungarian Foreign Ministry told Hungarian state agency MTI late on Wednesday.
There are concerns in Hungary that there could be tension between Serbs and around 300,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Vojvodina province in the north of Serbia. Over 30 countries have now recognised the former Serbian province.
"The states that recognise Kosovo cannot have good relations with Serbia," Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said on Wednesday."
Source: HVG
26.03.2008