The president of Serbia and EU top diplomats refused to attend an informal summit of Balkan nations, which opened at a Slovenian resort on Saturday, local media reported.

The summit at Brdo Pri Kranju was initiated by the prime ministers of Slovenia and Croatia in January.

The meeting intended to discuss the admission of the Balkan countries to the European Union and could have become the largest gathering of Balkan leaders since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991.

The president of Serbia, the biggest Balkan country, decided not to join other Balkan leaders as Kosovo refused to come as a UN-run protectorate.

The Serbian Foreign Ministry said that Boris Tadic's arrival at Brdo Pri Kranju could have been regarded as Belgrade's recognition of Kosovo's independence.

Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council, Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign affairs chief and Miguel Moratinos, the Spanish foreign minister, also refused to attend the summit.

According to experts, the EU assigns more priority to the upcoming meeting of Balkan and EU foreign ministers in Bosnian capital Sarajevo in June.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, who represents the European Union at the conference said that the meeting "will be a step in the right direction."

Slovenia, the summit's host, is the only former Yugoslav state that joined the EU in 2004. Croatia and Macedonia are official candidate countries, while others have a long way to go.

SARAJEVO, March 20 (RIA Novosti)