US Ambassador Calls Rama’s Pan-Albanian Talk ‘Careless’
By Fatjona Mejdini
The US ambassador to Tirana, Donald Lu, said ‘careless’ calls for the unification of Albania and Kosovo undermined regional stability – after Albania’s leader, Edi Rama, raised the prospect in an interview.
The US Ambassador to Albania, has criticised the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, for mulling the possible unification of Albania and Kosovo if both countries felt rejected by the European Union.
“The US Government supports the sovereignty of Kosovo and Albania. We are against careless talk of unification. It undermines the stability of the region and the European path of both country,” Lu told BIRN.
In an interview for Politico Europe published on April 18, Rama, said that if the doors to Europe were closed on the Western Balkans, other smaller unions might emerge, such as the union of Albania with Kosovo.
Rama insisted that this was not what he himself wished for, but added that if the EU failed to integrate the Balkans, anything could happen.
“The only way to keep the Balkans in this peaceful and cooperative mode… is to keep the path to the EU open … No one would like to turn [in] on themselves and look for smaller unions, everyone would like to unite in the big union. But if there’s no hope, no perspective, no space, then, of course, little unions may happen,” Rama said.
On April 19, Rama’s statement was seconded by the President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, who expressed frustration over what he called “the lack of vision by the EU toward the region”.
“I have said also in 2013, and I can repeat that now: if the EU is closing the door for Kosovo, all Albanians in the region are going to live in the same space, in order to later integrate into the European family,” Thaci said.
Rama’s and Thaci’s statements have angered some in Serbia, where politicians condemned them as irresponsible and dangerous. Serbia still claims Kosovo as part of its own territory. The former province declared independence in 2008. Most EU countries have recognised this, but Serbia, Russia, China and a number of other countries have not.
