TIRANA, April 26 – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia Miroslav Lajcak said Wednesday that the harsh rhetoric that has emerged in Western Balkan countries recently can only postpone problems in the region.
In an op-ed published by the daily newspaper Danas, Lajcak expressed concern about “deeply rooted nationalism” in the Western Balkans and dangerous calls for uniting two nations.
“Calls for uniting ethnically pure states and nations under a common flag with the double-headed eagle, can be seen as appeal for the EU to accept the role of arbitrator more decisively,” Lajcak said clearly referring to newly emerged speculations about the possibility of redrawing borders in the Balkans and spreading of the Greater Albania in the region.
Lajcak explained that European Union desires to believe in the efforts of regional governments to meet the EU accession conditions, however national rhetoric issued in the past week could be perceived as blackmail.
“The recent rhetoric of Hashim Thaà§i and Edi Rama although alarming, it is the result of convincing the Western Balkans in our irreplaceable role in solving problems, and then leaving the region to cope with them alone,” Lajcak said.
The Slovak diplomat urged Balkan countries to engage into a more active work for their EU accession and suggests the establishment of a specialized unit in the European Union to deal with Western Balkans.
The notion of Greater Albania resurfaced last week following a statement by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama who in an interview with the Politico published on April 18, Rama, said that a union between Albania and Kosovo cannot be ruled out if EU membership prospects for the Western Balkans fade.
“Europe would face ‘a nightmare’ if the Balkans ‘go crazy’ because EU accession is off the agenda, with the region becoming a ‘gray zone in which other actors have more influence than the European Union,” Rama said.
“The only way to keep the Balkans in this peaceful and cooperative mode … is to keep the path to the EU open, to keep the perspective clear, to keep emotions about the EU positive. No one would like to turn [in] on themselves and look for smaller unions, everyone would like to unite in the big union. But if there’s no hope, no perspective, no space, then, of course, little unions may happen,” he said.
Reaction to Rama statements from EU, U.S. officials
Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, reacted that the “the Western Balkans has a clear European perspective, as was recently confirmed by the European Council,” the heads of state or government of the union.
“We work with all partners in the region to achieve this goal, based on the principles of reconciliation and regional cooperation,” she said, when asked by the agency to convey EU’s position on Rama’s statement.
The spokeswoman added that “any form of political interference undermines the consolidation of good neighborly relations” in the region.
While the U.S. Ambassador to Tirana Donald Lu called these calls for the unification of Albania as “careless” and undermining to regional stability, Serbia reacted and warned of another war in the Balkans.
Serbian government minister Aleksandar Vulin said that a new war in the Balkans would also include Macedonia and Montenegro which have large ethnic-Albanian populations.”
Rama’s statement has been echoed by President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, who on April 19 criticized “EU’s lack of vision toward the region”.
“If the EU is closing the door for Kosovo, all Albanians in the region are going to live in the same space, in order to later integrate into the European family,” Thaci said.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and has been recognized by most of EU countries except Serbia, Russia, China and a number of other countries.
Rakipi: EU’s transformative power cannot be replaced
Albert Rakipi, executive director of the Albanian Institute for International Studies, says European integration has been the driving force of state building in Albania, during the entire process of post-communist transformation.
“I believe that the logic behind such a statement [by Rama] is very fallible: that should the EU not accept Albania as a member then the country will unite with Kosovo. Kosovo and its unification with Albania could never replace the magic transformational power of the EU,” Rakipi said. “To reach this conclusion is enough to reflect on how the unification with Kosovo could ever assist the establishment of a modern and functioning state, the rule of the constitution and the law in Albania, the values of freedom, the economic development and the modernization of the society.”
