An independent Kosovo is a regional reality, and Prishina deserves a full seat in all regional partnerships. Inclusion, not exclusion, is the European way.
TIRANA TIMES EDITORIAL
This week’s cancellation of the presidential summit of the Southeast European Cooperation Process highlighted that after more than a decade of work, regional cooperation remains on shaky ground, and it takes very little to bring underlying disputes back on the surface.
The undoing of the summit was related, but not limited, to the exclusion of Kosovo. The idea behind these summits is to be as inclusive as possible to work toward a united region under the EU umbrella. All the doomed summit accomplished at this time, however, was to highlight the divisions that still exist.
Albania’s president, Bujar Nishani, decided to skip the Ohrid Summit, scheduled for June 1-2, because his Kosovo counterpart, President Atifete Jahjaga, had not been invited. As he put it, the region should be against isolation and exclusion, but rather focus on cooperation and integration.
Yet Mr. Nishani was hardly alone. While Croatia also canceled at the last moment, a move perhaps affected by Albania’s Kosovo-related decision, other members of the initiative such as Bulgaria and Greece had earlier said they wouldn’t send their presidents either. Both EU members still have issues with Macedonia, the hosts. Greece, in particular is still embroiled in a never-ending dispute over Macedonia’s official name. Bulgaria’s absence was less expected, but Sofia too has some issues with Skopje over the recognition of the country’s language and ethnicity.
As such, this newspaper finds it ironic for Macedonia to exclude Kosovo, supposedly under pressure from the initiative members Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina, which do not recognize Prishtina’s independence. Macedonia does recognize Kosovo. However, there is worry that Macedonia’s own internal politics relating to its own sizable ethnic Albanian population might be part of the equation as well.
The case of Serbia’s pressure is worrisome in particular, because a recent agreement between Prishtina and Belgrade specifically notes that Belgrade won’t veto Kosovo’s participation in regional initiatives. And at least one top Serb official told the Serb media it wasn’t pressure from Belgrade that led to Kosovo’s exclusion.
But this is more than just pressure from Serbia. As Kosovo officials put it: It is a real concern for Kosovo-Macedonia relations and it goes against the spirit of regional cooperation.
SEECP was formed as an institution that would lead to stronger regional cooperation that could in turn facilitate European integration. As such, the countries of the region need to accept that Kosovo exists as an independent state, it is recognized by the vast majority of EU states, more than half of U.N. members – and by the majority of the members of the SEECP itself. (Although in SEECP, five out of 12 members don’t recognize Kosovo as independent, including Greece, Romania and Moldova.)
Also, Kosovo, is not a member of SEECP, but its president can be invited as an observer if there was any willingness to find an accommodation.
But beyond regional worries, this is also a warning bell for the European Union and its plans for expanding in the Balkans. It is a clear signal that Brussels needs to push harder and smarter in helping the countries of the region get back on track a faster move toward membership negotiations with the bloc.
While most people in the region support EU membership, for many the track their countries are taking is not moving fast enough. Of course some of this is to be billed to the governments of the region and the low economic and political point from where the region started its EU bid.
However, if the EU membership keeps staying as far in the distance as it currently is, it cannot exert as much gravity on the society needs to affect the cultural and developmental shift needed for eventual membership. As such, the fact that regional cooperation can unravel so easily in the Western Balkans, might be a symptom of a larger problem.
