TIRANA, July 30 – Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said this week he intends to attend the Albania – Serbia return football match. The game, scheduled to be held in Shkodra, has been moved to Elbasan by UEFA.
The Albania – Serbia return match of Euro 2016 Qualifiers will be held on Oct. 8.
Albanian officials have set the highest security parameters for the match, including the sale of tickets tied to ID numbers.
Vucic made the comments in an interview with the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
He added that despite Serbian state refusal to recognize Kosovo’s independence, it would not prevent the region from maintaining the stability.
Asked if they would put to a referendum the constitutional amendments on the status of Kosovo, Vucic said that the Serbians will never accept such a thing.
But according to him, the relationship between the parties will not be affected, due to the improvement of relations with Albania.
Vucic said the visit of Prime Minister Rama in Belgrade immediately after the football match, last November as an example to improve the climate in the Balkans, while confirming his attendance in the Albania return match.
In Belgrade, last year, a drone carrying Albanian nationalist banner, boiled over already simmering violence among Serbian fans in the stadium, who entered the pitch and attacked Albanian players after a short brawl.
Tirana and Belgrade then became involved in a diplomatic row blaming each other for the sports incident.
In the aftermath of football violence in Belgrade in a game between the two countries, Albanian Prime Minister Rama postponed his visit to Belgrade. The visit — the first for an Albanian premier in 68 years — took place despite the negative climate following the Euro 2016 qualifier football game in Belgrade was abandoned due to violence.
