TIRANA, Aug. 13 – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that there can be no border changes in Western Balkan countries.
She made this comment after meeting with Bosnian Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic, with whom she discussed regional developments. Merkel said that she and her guest agreed on several issues.
“We agreed on three issues, which are more important: the first is the territorial integrity of all Western Balkan states. This is a sacred thing and we have to keep repeating it because there is always efforts to open discussions on borders. We can not have this. The European future of all Western Balkan countries depends on it,” Merkel said.
The last two weeks have seen an ongoing discussion concerning the idea of Kosovo’s territorial division, exchange or “border correction,” in the context of the process of normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia.
The talks are expected to resume in September and should lead to a comprehensive binding legal agreement for normalizing relations between Kosovo, which has entered its 11th year of independence and Serbia, which continues to oppose it.
The agreement is a condition for both sides to advance on their path towards European Union integration.
A number of Kosovo politicians have echoed Merkel’s words, among whom the head of the Self-determination (Vetà«vendosje) Movement Albin Kurti.
Kurti told the Voice of America that any “border correction” discussion is wrong and might lead to harmful consequences.
Although Kurti’s political party is engaged with the national union of Albanians, he said giving away Northern Kosovo in exchange of uniting Albania and Kosovo is still wrong.
“I don’t believe that we should destroy the state of Kosovo to unite Albanians, I believe that the strengthening of the state of Kosovo is in the function of its unification with Albania. I am against that in exchange of uniting Kosovo with Albania we should give away Kosovo’s North, TrepÄa, the Gazivoda Lake, or accept the partition of the city of Mitrovica,” Kurti told VOA.
