French President backs Moldova's EU bid

All the Balkan states as well as Moldova should be part of the European Union, said President of France Nicolas Sarkozy on February 4, while on a visit to Bucharest, Info-Prim Neo reports with reference to the Romanian presidential office. Asked to comment on the situation in Serbia (where presidential elections were held on Sunday, with Kosovo province preparing to proclaim its independence), after a meeting with the President of Romania Traian Basescu, Sarkozy said that Kosovo will inevitable declare its independence, but this should be done in the best circumstances and, what is very important, Europe should remain united. On the other hand, Traian Basescu said that Romania will remain loyal to the EU’s decisions, but will not recognise Kosovo’s independence declared unilaterally. The future of Kosovo region is followed attentively in Chisinau because Moscow and Tiraspol repeatedly said that the way in which this dispute will be solved will be used as a precedent for settling the frozen conflicts in the ex-Soviet area. Analysts say that if the Western capitals recognise the region’s independence, Moscow could do the same in relation to the breakaway regions from the CIS, even if the West says that the Kosovo problem and the frozen conflicts are extremely different. At the same time, some of the European states, including Romania, say that they will not recognise Kosovo’s independence so as not to set precedents.