TIRANA, June 15 – Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said that his country’s ties with Albania were very close and Italy will assist in Albania’s efforts to become integrated into the European Union and NATO.
“Relations between our two countries are closely integrated,” said D’Alema in an interview to News24 private television station. He mentioned that 40 percent of Albania’s exports, and more than half of foreign direct investment in the country, come from Italy.
The minister considered ties between Italy and Albania as a pillar in each other’s foreign policies. “Our history is that of two neighboring countries linked in intensive cooperation,” said D’Alema.
The minister said the two countries were cooperating and jointly working well in the fight against human trafficking from Albania. While discussing organized crime. he said that criminal gangs in both countries were now cooperating with each other. “That’s a danger we have to cope with,” he said, adding that law enforcement authorities were closely coordinating efforts.
Though not willing to get involved in Albania’s internal political issues, D’Alema considered as interesting the political situation. “There is a kind of equilibrium in the Albanian politics and a signal of democratic lifeŠWe should hope that this political panorama be calm and, above all, responsibilities in government and institutions be held together.”
He said that without consensus it would be difficult to elect the new Albanian president.
Belonging to the Italian leftist parties, D’Alema advised Albanian counterparts to stay together in greater unity. “There is no doubt that the division of the left in Albania has been one of the main factors that caused its loss (in 2005 general elections). I have the impression they are more united now.”
“I think Albania is one of the countries that should become an EU member,” said D’Alema, who considered Italy’s duty to support Tirana and other Balkan nations in the integration process. The minister said that Rome would be more than a supporting representative for Tirana, “It will be a friend along the road and there is no doubt about that.”
D’Alema said that the Balkans were a priority in the EU’s efforts for integration, though that does not mean a date has been set for full membership of the Balkan countries. “Much will depend on youŠAlbania should undertake its reforms, adapt its civic and economic structures with European standardsŠWe are there to keep the door open.”
On Kosova, D’Alema said Italy was working so an agreement will be reached. Europe needed a joint opinion and shared thinking on Kosova and then decide on further work in the province when it became a state. “All that is not easy to be assured without a U.N. Security Council resolution.” He suggested that everyone should continue to work on reaching a joint deal and there was still space to work along that road.
“It’s a delicate transition because the way it will be resolved will decide not only Kosova’s independence but also regional stability,” he said, adding there was no other plan than that of Ahtisaari.
Kosovo, a province of 2 million, of whom 90 percent are ethnic Albanians, has been run by the U.N. since mid-1999 when a NATO air war halted a crackdown by Serb forces on independence-seeking ethnic Albanian rebels.
Last month, U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari recommended that Kosovo be granted internationally-supervised independence, a proposal welcomed by its ethnic Albanian majority, but vehemently rejected by its Serb minority, Serbia, and Russia, as Moscow contends independence would set a dangerous precedent for the world’s other breakaway regions.
Statements from U.S. President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Europe that Kosovo should gain independence have exacerbated tensions with Russia and the province’s status will be a main topic of dispute in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month.
The Security Council has not set a date to vote on the resolution that would endorse Ahtisaari’s recommendation. However, diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute continue.
