TIRANA, Nov. 20 – Albanian parliament passed Monday a statement of its foreign policy commission which called for a quick solution to the future status of Kosova. The statement also appealed to ethnic Albanians there to avoid violence. The statement was unanimously approved by the parliament. It welcomed a final status that would reflect the Kosova citizens’ aspirations and free will for an independent, democratic, multiethnic and European state. Though Albania has been the strongest supporter of independence for Kosova, where ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of its population, it has always insisted there should be no border change turning down voices of the will to create a greater Albania. The U.N.’s special envoy for Kosova has delayed issuing a report on the province’s future until after Serbia holds elections in January, but Tirana says that could threaten regional stability. It was initially hoped the talks would end and the status would be resolved by the end of this year. Serbia wants to keep at least some control over the province, and last month approved a new constitution declaring Kosova an integral part of its territory. Albania has said Serbia’s constitutional claim over Kosova is unacceptable. Since the end of the war between Serb military forces and separatists in the southern province in 1999, Kosova has been run by a U.N. administration and patrolled by NATO peacekeepers. The previous week Prime Minister Sali Berisha said that postponing a resolution of Kosova’s future status could threaten regional stability. Berisha said that “Further postponement of Kosovo’s final status at this delicate moment complicates the situation, stability in Kosovo and the region.” Albania has said Serbia’s new constitutional claim over Kosovo was unacceptable, and Berisha dismissed the Serbian referendum again Tuesday, telling reporters that “independent, free and democratic Kosovo is the condition for peace and stability” in both the province and the region. Berisha also appealed to the six-nation Contact Group participating in status talks, as well as the European Union, to rule out any change to Kosovo’s borders, which he said “would encourage adventurers and demons of all Balkan nationalisms to … turn the Balkans back to its darkest times.”
Statement:
נIn attentively observing the latest developments to determine the final status of Kosovo;
נCommending the uninterrupted commitment of the USA and the EU to find a settlement to the issue of Kosovo, and the latest resolution of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which seeks the determination of the final status, in compliance with the will of the people of Kosovo;
נIn support of the stands of the Contact Group and the statements, according to which, the constitutional referendum and elections in Serbia and the issue of the status of Kosovo are independent of one another;
נCommending and strongly supporting the activity of the Chief Negotiator Marti Ahtissari to conclude and submit the document on the final status of Kosovo to the United Nations Organization, within the foreseen deadline and with no further delay;
נHighly appreciating the progress achieved in reaching standards as a result of the active work of the Government of Kosovo in cooperation with UNMIK, as well as the major role played by the Unity Group in the process of negotiations and in the preservation of political-institutional and public cohesion in this exceptionally important phase of determining the status;
the Committee of Foreign Policy of the Assembly of Albania,
נReiterates the will of the Assembly of Albania to define the final status, reflecting the free aspirations and will of the citizens of Kosovo for an independent, democratic and European state;
Commends, with special appreciation the wise stands and the democratic conduct of the institutions, political parties and public opinion in Kosovo, and invites the citizens of Kosovo, preserving the spirit of cooperation with the international players, to avoid every provocation and act of violence, something that is only in the interests of those individuals who do not want the correct and final solution of the issue of the status of Kosovo.
נReconfirms the conviction that the swift solution to the final status and the strict respecting of the criteria of non-partitioning of Kosovo would exert a positive influence on a stable and long term settlement, while any further postponement or effort to partition Kosovo would have consequences on the security and stability of the entire region and further a-field.
