On March 20 2008, a month and three days after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, the Bulgarian Government took a decision to recognise the former Yugoslav province as an independent state.

Bulgaria become the third neighbouring country to recognise Kosovo. The first two were Croatia and Hungary. On March 19 the governments of Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary issued a joint declaration stating their readiness to recognise Kosovo's self-proclaimed independence. The same day Croatia and Hungary followed the example of 29 countries and recognised Kosovo while the Bulgarian Government waited for a day to announce its decision.

The decision to recognise Kosovo draws on "thorough consideration and on the conclusions adopted by the General Affairs and External Relations Council of the European Union on 12 February 2007 and 18 February 2008, as well as by the European Council on 14 December 2007", the joint declaration reads.

Kosovo is a "case arising from the unique circumstances of the disintegration of former Yugoslavia as well as the continued period of international administration", the declaration read.

Despite this, all three countries paid due tribute to the European future of Serbia and favour the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Serbia and the European Union.

Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic said, as quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP), that countries that have recognised Kosovo "cannot rely on good relations with Serbia".

Hours before the release of the joint statement, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Lyubomir Kyuchoukov met Serbian ambassador to Bulgaria Danilo Vucetic to inform him about the decision. Emerging from the meeting, he said there was no reason to expect that Serbia would treat Bulgaria any differently from other states that had recognised Kosovo's independence. Over the past month, Serbia has recalled its ambassadors, for an indefinite period, from all the countries that have recognised Kosovo.

On March 20, Serbia remained true to its approach and recalled its ambassador in Sofia, as well as those in Budapest and Zagreb, for an indefinite period of time. Vucetic also handed over a protest diplomatic note against Bulgaria's official recognition of Kosovo independence.
Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov characterised the decision as "reasonable" yet declined to comment further until the document had been approved by the Cabinet. He said, though, that the situation in Kosovo continued to be "alarming" and this had to be taken into account.

The political outcry in Bulgaria was immediate and, inevitably, the ruling coalition and the opposition took different positions. While the ruling coalition maintained the decision was timely, carefully considered and responsible, the opposition was united behind the feeling that the decision was late.
"Because of indecision, Bulgaria lost its chance to join the governing commission of states, which are to oversee and insist on the implementation of the Ahtisaari plan and therefore to stand for its economic and political interests," Konstantin Dimitrov, a member of Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Sofia mayor and leader of the Citizens for European Development in Bulgaria Boiko Borissov wondered why the Government needed so long to reach its decision "given that from day one everyone knew Bulgaria would recognise Kosovo".

Hours after the declaration was released, Croatia's deputy prime minister Slobodan Uzelac, a representative of the Serbian minority in the Croatian government, filed his resignation in protest against the plans of the Croatian government, Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader said, as quoted by AFP.

Russia's deputy foreign minister Alexander Yakovenko said that "Russia's position on Serbia remained unchanged, the declaration of Kosovo's independence violated international law". The head of the defence and security committee in the upper chamber of the Russian parliament Viktor Ozerov would not rule out the prospect of acceding Serbia to the Commonwealth of Independent States and in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported.