Strange persistence on ‘Greater Albania’ idea

TIRANA, Feb. 1 – Strangely enough at a time when both Albanians and Serbs aim at becoming part of the European Union and also other international institutions (Albania is a NATO member while Serbia is in the first step towards that end), the Serb media continues to insist that the idea of ‘Greater Albania’ reamins among ethnic Albanians.
Danas newspaper wrote recently on a Galap agency research saying that the majority of the Albanians and Kosovoans support the ‘Great Albania’.
“Asked whether they support the formation of ‘Greater Albania’ 74.2 percent from Kosovo and 70.5 percent from Albania have given positive answer. 43.3 percent of Kosovo citizens and 39.5 percent of Albanians think the establishment of the ‘Great Albania’ will happen in the near future,” the paper contiues.
It continues that Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo are the countries in the region which dislike Serbia most, Serbian Blic newspaper writes, citing Galap inquiry.
The Serb media also report that 70.5 percent of Kosovo citizens think the declaration of independence is a good decision while 63.8 percent of Serbs think they will never recognize Kosovo’s independence.
The idea of a ‘Greater Albania’ is long rooted at the former Serbian Academy and it served well all the previous Serb or Yugoslav leaders to keep at bay the efforts of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians towards indepepdence.
But after Kosovo has become independent it has become clear that neither Albanians in proper Albania nor Albanians in Kosovo have any thinking of joining their countries.
It is already clear that Albania and Kosovo hope to one day become part of NATO (which Albania is) and also the European Union.
There is nothing else that Serb need to fear.
But strangely enough they continue to insist on such an idea.
Does that help the regional co-existence? Does it help their individual efforts towards the EU?
Absolutely not. But that is a reason which European leaders should continue to take care of and not so much down play Albanians’ efforst toward integration.