EU says Albania comment on Kosovo unification 'not acceptable'

The EU foreign service has described Albanian remarks on Kosovo unification as “provocative” and “not acceptable”.

Maja Kocjiancic, the EU spokeswoman, told Balkans news agency dtt-net.com on Wednesday (8 April) that both Albania and Kosovo have “a clear European perspective” but must honor their “commitment to this goal … in full respect of EU principles and standards”.

“The commitments also include regional co-operation, reconciliation, and good neighbourly relations; any provocative statements in this context are not acceptable”.

She spoke after Albanian prime minister Edi Rama prompted anger in Serbia by saying that Albania and Kosovo will one day be reunited.

Rama had told Klan TV, an Albanian broadcaster, on Tuesday that EU integration of Kosovo is proceeding too slowly.

“The unification of Albanians in Albania and Kosovo, Albanians that live in two Albanian countries, is unavoidable and unquestionable. The question is how it will happen," he said.

“Will it work as a part of the European Union, as a natural process accepted by all, or will it happen as a reaction to the blindness or laziness of the EU? … A strategic Europe would request first that the Balkans become part of it, and secondly, for all the ethnicities in the Balkans to have the ease to be together without having to deal with borders”.

Kosovo’s foreign minister and deputy PM, Hashim Thaci, who also took part in the interview, added that Rama’s words refer to “the reality that can come true in the future and could be the result of Kosovo's isolation from the EU”.

Their words were seized upon by Serb politicians.

Aleksandar Vucic, the Serb PM, wrote on Twitter that the comments risk “causing further instability in the region!”.

Marko Djuric, Serbia’s envoy to Kosovo, told the Tanjug news agency that they’re an ““attack on peace … beating the war drums … [and] an incitement to new divisions”.

Serb media had initially quoted Rama as saying that if Albania and Kosovo aren’t reunited by joining the EU then they will reunite in the “classical way”.

The translation is being disputed, but, Kocijancic noted, the EU foreign service issued its criticism “after checking what PM Rama … said in the interview”.

Kosovo-Serb relations have improved as part of EU-brokered “normalisation” talks, which recently saw the EU grant Serbia official candidate status in return for dismantling parallel government structures in a Kosovar Serb enclave in north Kosovo.

The two sides are also planning to submit joint proposals for EU-funded highway and railway projects later this month, dtt-net.com reports.

But the fragility of the process was visible during a football game last October, which ended with violence on the pitch after unidentified activists flew a drone carrying a map of greater Albania into the stadium.

Foot in mouth

Meanwhile, the EU’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini i, herself put her foot in her mouth last month.

She told a forum of Kosovar students on her first-ever visit to Pristina last month that Kosovo is a “sovereign state”.

“The dialogue [between Kosovo and Serbia] happens between two equal sides. The dialogue happens between two sovereign countries”, she said.

Mogherini’s native Italy and most EU states recognise Kosovo statehood. But Serbia, as well as give EU countries - Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain do not.

Kosovo is currently in talks with the EU to sign a stabilisation and association agreement, a precursor to EU enlargement. It is also waiting for an EU visa-free travel accord, with Kosovars left as the last people in the Western Balkans region who still need travel permits.

Thaci, who visited Croatia on Wednesday, noted the stabilisation pact “will serve as a good signal to those states that have not recognised Kosovo yet”.

He noted, together with the Croatian parliament speaker, Josip Leko, that Zagreb will continue “lobbying” the five EU non-recognising countries.