TIRANA, July 13 – Following a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to award Albania a 0-3 victory for the abandoned football match with Serbia, the two countries’ prime ministers exchanged views on social media.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama responded triumphantly to the announcement.
“That’s European justice! Three points for the Red-and-Black National Team in Belgrade,” Rama said.
It was not a sentiment echoed by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who called the CAS ruling a “global injustice.”
“Those who caused the incident have been awarded, while the victim has been punished,” Vucic said. “The ruling by the court in Lausanne is a shame for law and justice and an insult to all normal people.”
Addressing Rama on Twitter, Vucic said: “We’ll win the match [in Albania], without drones and anybody’s help in the stadium.”
Rama responded by inviting Vucic to the game, tweeting: “We can applaud together the winners.” Rama added: “In Albania, my dear friend @SerbianPM, that day will win who will play best football, so never say ‘We will win’ as nothing depends from you 🙂 [sic],” Rama said.
The exchange gathered hundreds of re-tweets, but also drew some condemnation.
“It’s nice to see some more personal tweets from PMs @ediramaal @SerbianPM but really stop that passive/aggressive thing,” wrote Florian Bieber, an expert on Balkan affairs and professor of Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz.
Following the violence in Belgrade that led to the abandonment of the match, the two countries exchanged harsh statements and called in ambassadors to hand protests notes. Rama’s visit to Belgrade had to be postponed to allow the waters to calm down.
