Tirana hosts several regional leaders as Macedonia tensions and hopes for EU members lead agenda
TIRANA, May 27 – Albania ended its one-year rotating presidency of the South East Europe Cooperation Process, with a series of events attended by regional leaders in Tirana.
Balkans leaders attending the SEECP summit signed an agreement reiterating their commitment to the European Union and the Euro-Atlantic community.
Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, whose countries are EU and NATO members, warned of renewed tensions in the region and called on all the countries to refrain from conflicts and instability, primarily reflecting on recent violent incidents in Macedonia.
Albania’s president Bujar Nishani said the crisis in Macedonia could be a setback for the Balkan region’s efforts to add new members to the European Union.
Nishani told regional leaders at the meeting in Tirana that the Macedonia crisis showed the “fragility of stability in the region.”
“I call for the clarification of that situation and resolving disagreements among the parties. It is also important to respect the Ohrid Agreement,” he said.
Macedonia is grappling with a political crisis triggered by wiretapping allegations against the government, while tension has been stoked by a shootout earlier this month between police and suspected ethnic Albanian militants that left 18 dead.
Bulgarian President Plevneliev, whose country takes the SEECP rotating presidency, said all the countries had reconfirmed “the principle of inviolability of national borders in the region.”
“The recent events in the Republic of Macedonia once again showed the need to reaffirm our support for the independence and the territorial integrity of the country,” he said at a news conference.
Romanian Prime Minister Ponta added, “We must preserve a stable region to promote integration.”
The summit brought together representatives of Western Balkan countries with long troubled relations, like Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia.
The leaders were meeting as part of the 13-nation South-East European Cooperation Process. Five of its members are in the EU, while five others are candidates for membership.
“We reaffirm our conviction that the EU enlargement policy and the accession of South East Europe to the EU serve the strategic interest of both the entire SEE region and the European Union,” noted a joint statement passed at the end of Albania’s one-year presidency.
They also reaffirmed support to the global coalition against violent extremism and terrorism.
Macedonia tops talks
The political crisis in neighboring Macedonia dominated the summit held in Tirana, as all participants called on the Macedonian political parties to enter a dialogue and resolve the crisis.
Albania and Bulgaria denied claims recently made by Russian officials that the two countries would end up dividing Macedonia between them.
“I find today’s statement of Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov delivered before the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and especially his suggestion concerning a possible division of the Republic of Macedonia between Albania and Bulgaria extremely irresponsible,” said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov.
Bulgaria’s president also said they would work to adopt a joint resolution in the region for the territorial integrity and non-violation of the existing borders.
“Bulgaria will continue being a guarantor of Republic of Macedonia’s independence and territorial integrity and this should not be doubted,” Minister Mitov added.
