AFP Slovenia worried Serbia bomb linked to EU role: minister Sat Feb 9, 2008 12:45 pm (PST)
<http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1202585521.62> http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1202585521.62 EU BUSINESS (UK) Slovenia worried Serbia bomb linked to EU role: minister 09 February 2008, 20:32 CET (MUNICH) - Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel expressed concern Saturday over a bomb blast at a Slovenian-run shopping mall in Serbia, saying he feared it was tied to his country's EU leadership. "Yesterday there was some bomb explosion in Belgrade in front of Slovenian stores," Rupel said during a speech to an international security conference in Germany on the issue of the crisis between Serbia and breakaway Kosovo. "I'm a little worried about that because it may be connected to the role Slovenia's playing at the head of the European Union," he said. Slovenia currently holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation EU. An explosive device went off in the early hours of Friday morning at the entrance of the mall in the Serbian capital. Police launched a probe but said they had revealed no possible motives. Several hours later, employees and visitors were evacuated from another Slovenian-run mall in the central Serbian town of Cacak following a bomb alert. But this turned out to be a false alarm, according to Serbian media reports. "I hope that our Serbian friends understand that they are responsible for safety and security... and responsible for enforcing law and order and bringing to justice those who have broken it," said Rupel. The incidents occurred as several senior Serbian officials stepped up their rhetoric against Slovenia -- which broke away from the crumbling Yugoslavia in 1991 after a short conflict -- criticising its role at the helm of the EU. Kosovo, overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Albanians and administered by the United Nations since 1999, is expected to unilaterally declare independence within days after 18 months of fruitless negotiations with Belgrade. Serbia is staunchly opposed to the idea of independence, insisting the province is part of its historic heartland, but a core group of European countries and Washington are prepared to recognise a breakaway state. Rupel, whose country has been trying to broker a consensus on the Kosovo issue within the EU, said it was time to bring stability to the long-troubled Balkans once and for all. "The Yugoslav crisis started in 1991. I think that we should end this crisis," he said. Slovenia joined the EU in 2004 and last month became the first of the bloc's new ex-communist member states to take over the bloc's six-month rotating presidency.
