Can leaders of Serbia and Kosovo sit together?

Can leaders of Serbia and Kosovo sit together?

As we all know, Serbia doesn't recognise Kosovan independence.

So does this make it impossible to invite their respective leaders to the same conference? We're about to find out.

Slovenia has called a meeting, on March 20, to discuss the future of the Western Balkans.

EU and regional leaders are expected to attend, and discuss how to speed up the integration of Balkan countries into the EU.

The difficult political situation in Bosnia will be high on the agenda.

But there's a snag. Serbia's leaders won't turn up if Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's prime minister, is allowed to attend in the capacity of a head of government.

Serbia says it can only accept Kosovan politicians appearing under the flag of the UN mission in Kosovo (Unmik).

This, according to Boris Tadic, Serbia's president, is a "fundamental preconditon". 

Back in February, Tadic stayed away from the inauguration of Ivo Josipovic, the new Croatian president, because of the presence of Fatmir Sejdiu, the Kosovan president. 

And a few days ago, Serbia's minister of the interior walked out of a conference in Albania when his Kosovan counterpart rose to address the gathering.

Of course, Serbia says its sovereignity is not up for negotiation.

But the awkward fact is that almost all its near neighbours have now recognised Kosovo, so Tadic's "fundamental precondition" is making it increasingly difficult to bring the region's leaders together in a single forum.

Slovenia hopes that Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU's new foreign policy chief, will attend the March 20 conference.

If so, she'll get a necessary introduction into the complexities of Balkan politics.