Albania against Serbia holding polls in Kosovo

TIRANA, March 14 – Albania lashed out at Serbia’s plan to hold elections in Kosovo in defiance of Western powers that recognize it as independent.
A Foreign Ministry statement called them as “illegal and unacceptable as they violate the integrity of a sovereign neighboring country.”
Tirana said that those efforts are in full opposition to the negotiations held until now between Prishtina and Belgrade mediated by the European Union.
It said they will have no legal impact and the elected persons will have no authority. They will only strengthen “Serb parallel criminal structure in northern Kosovo, whose dismantling is an obligation for Serbia.”
“Such elections violate the prospect of full integration of the ethnic communities in the Kosovo institutions and society.”
Kosovo accused Serbia on Wednesday of trying to provoke conflict. Prishtina declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade does not recognize its secession. Serbia on Tuesday called parliamentary and municipal elections for May 6, and included several Kosovo districts among those where Serbs will vote.
Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci accused Serbia of “aggression” and said his government would use all legal means to thwart the voting.
Serbia became an official candidate for EU accession this month, but progress is conditional on improved ties with Kosovo, which 22 of the EU’s 27 members recognize as independent.
Serbia lost control over Kosovo in 1999 when NATO bombed the country for 11 weeks to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians by Serb forces fighting a two-year counter-insurgency war.