The fence between Serbia and Albania

When Albania’s deputy prime minister and chief diplomat, Ilir Meta, arrived in Serbia earlier this week, there was a feeling in the air of old “foes” trying to cooperate to get back to business in order to move toward a common European future. And then there was the big elephant in the room — Kosova.
While the visit clearly demonstrates the will of the Albanian government for an open foreign policy and strengthening bilateral ties with Serbia, despite entirely opposite views on Kosovo, there was some fear that the benefits Serbia reaped from the visit outweighed those of Albania.
Serbia used Mr. Meta’s visit to boost its international image as an agreeable country in the context of still claiming Kosovo as its own.
A few Albanian flags were placed on Belgrade streets to honor the visit, and Mr. Meta was escorted to meet ethnic Albanians living in Southern Serbia’s Presheva Valley.
But it felt like window dressing. There was no substance — no concrete outcome that benefits Albania, Kosovo or ethnic Albanians that still live under Serb rule.
In typical Balkans fashion, to create problems when there are none, the Serbs even brought up the issue of a Serb minority in Albania, when there is absolutely no data that one even exists.
To be fair to Mr. Meta, he handled that and other questions in a diplomatic fashion, but it was clear the agenda was not as friendly as Albanian officials would have liked. Mr. Meta had also been on a visit of this kind in the past. He had been to Belgrade on the same capacity when he was deputy prime minister under the former government.
In fact, looking at the history of Albania-Serbia meetings in recent years, Albania has initiated all high-level bilateral meetings. The only few times Serb leaders have dropped by in Tirana has been as part of regional meetings. Further, while Serbia is keeping a very low profile of its diplomatic mission in Tirana, Albanian government was in rush to send its ambassador in Belgrade.
Serbia and Albania should have the good will to work together for greater economic and political cooperation, and they have already signed several agreements on this matter.
Economically, everything is in place for greater cooperation, yet the trade relations remain far below their potential.
Diplomatic speeches aside, Kosovo’s independence will always be there to muddy up the waters in the Albania-Serbia relationship, unless Serbia decides to accept the current reality in Kosovo.
The Serbs are pulling every trick in the book to stop more countries from recognizing Kosovo’s independence.
While preaching good regional relations and EU integration, they are trying to revive a 50-year-old organization, The Non-Aligned Movement, for the sole purpose of gaining support on Kosovo. Belgrade is hosting the 50th anniversary of the organization soon, and if you look at how The Non-Aligned Movement is organized, you will find many of its member governments are not fond of the same democratic ideals the European Union is based on.
At the end of the day, Serbia needs to make up its mind on which side of the fence it wants to sit on.
Albania has now done more than enough to show its good will. The ball is on Serbia’s court.