FM: Regional diplomacy focus for next year

TIRANA, Dec. 25 – Foreign Minister Edmond Panariti says regional diplomacy would be the focus of his institution in the next half year ahead of the parliamentary elections.
In a meeting with a group of journalists to review what has been done and the prospects for the country, Panariti said that focusing on closer ties with the Balkan neighbors was what he intended to do next year.
Forging closer ties with Kosovo remains a main issue. He made it clear that Europe was the final destination for both countries and tried to avoid the answer on the recent nationalistic comments made by his boss, Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
Panariti said that the situation in neighboring Macedonia was of prime concern ahead of the local elections there in spring. And to prove that, while he was speaking the Macedonian parliamentarians were clashing with each other at their parliament discussing the next year’s budget. Panariti called on the ethnic Albanians there to come out in unison and with joint candidates for the upcoming polls, so that they could increase their voice in the governing.
What remains a tough job for Panariti seemed to be neighboring Greece.
He said that his ministry will try to stabilize the relations with the southern neighbor. The minister was sure that the recent frictions will not have any negative impact on Albania’s integration efforts into the European Union as Athens has made that clear.
The bilateral ties seemed to get a hard hit during the recent celebration of the 100th anniversary of independence in Albania when Berisha made a historic comment on Albanians spreading all around the region. That was considered as inappropriate by Athens and the Greek foreign minister canceled his trip to Tirana.
The recent resolution of the Cam community remaining at the Albanian parliament for discussion and vote will be another difficult issue to deal with. Greece continues to have a war law with Albania and strangely it does not abrogate that though it has done such a move for Italy, which used Albanian soil during the World War Two to attack Greece.
Panariti said that the Greeks have made a milder move on the issue. Before they did not consider the Cham issue to be one existing in their agenda at all. Panariti said that now the Greek authorities say that the Cham community should seek their rights in the courts.
Panariti said that Tirana is not going to be a strong-headed side in this issue, warning that major security issues and the country’s one remained the top priorities. He said that some 700,000 Albanian immigrants live in Greece and they should not suffer any consequences.
Panariti hoped that authorities in both countries would make efforts also to resolve the issue of the bus transport after the Greek authorities have stopped many Albanian companies to proceed in their territory in some cases earlier this year. Ministers from both countries are expected to meet and agree that such a business should be based on the regular competition laws.
Panariti also denounced the stopping of a journalist to enter Greece simply because he had made a TV show about Albanians in Greece.
Naturally Albania’s progress into the European Union remained a main priority. Trying to distance himself from the politics, Panariti said that Albania and its politicians’ should do the same as the other former eastern European communist countries — consider the European integration as a top priority and set a green stamp on all the steps that the country should undertake for that. That means no political debates, fight or whatever else the political parties would like to do when it comes to issues, laws or any step required from the European partners. Panariti insisted that all the political parties should give their vote and avoid European integration from their agenda.