Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama will visit Serbia on 10 November, announced yesterday the Government of Serbia. His arrival was first scheduled for October 22, and then postponed by mutual agreement of Rama and his Serbian counterpart and future host Aleksandar Vucic.
Vucic and Rama, as said, have discussed yesterday afternoon and agreed that the incidents at last week’s football game between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade “in essence were very unhappy” and that “there are clear disagreements about how the incident occurred”.
The two prime ministers agreed that “it is necessary to continue the dialogue process started in Berlin on August 28, during a conference on the Western Balkans, which will enable the improvement of relations between the two countries, the region and the whole of Europe.” Their position is that it is the “time to turn a new page in the political and economic relations between Serbia and Albania.”
Vucic previously announced that the decision about Rama’s visit will be brought over the weekend. Political analyst Dusan Janjic told Danas that actually there are no doubts about Rama’s arrival – as his visit was part of an earlier agreement between Serbia and Albania backed by the USA and EU.
According to him, the postponement of the visit should allow a trilateral meeting to be hold in November between officials of Serbia, Albania and Kosovo in Belgrade. This meeting was first planned for 23 October but was cancelled due to the situation even before the visit of Prime Minister of Albania was officially postponed. The ministers of foreign affairs and the economy Enver Hoxhaj and Fadil Ismaili were supposed to represent Kosovo.
Janjic believes that in November, Rama’s visit to Presevo should not happen, because it would be counterproductive due to tensions caused by a scandal in the football game between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade last week.
– Rama’s arrival to Belgrade is important not only for the restoration of bilateral relations between Serbia and Albania, but also as part of a relaxation in the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo. Delaying the decision for the weekend was Vucic’s tactical move intended for the public, because for him this is an important test for the internal political plan, because we need to bear in mind the fact that for the USA and EU only important in Serbia is popular Vucic. There is no convincing of Germany or other EU member states, it is about the necessary tactics and review of all the circumstances – says Janjic.
He believes that the events of the Partizan stadium do not hamper Rama’s visit and that it is even more important because a scandal in the football game showed “disturbing weakness of government and security institutions, but also the growing support of young Albanians to Greater Albania, which requires bilateral cooperation not only of Serbia and Albania, but also cooperation in the region.”
Janjic expects in the Vucic-Rama meeting topics to be: economic cooperation, protection of minority rights, cultural and scientific exchanges, the fight against organized crime … He believes that the list should be extended with talks about Islamic extremism, the security situation and exchange of information, as well as the Special Court for war Crimes of the KLA and the investigation in the case of “Yellow House”.
– Kosovo is not the subject of meetings between Serbian and Albanian officials, because it is at least questionable. Albania and Serbia have never been in a territorial dispute, the idea of a Greater Albania was created in Kosovo. Incidents at the stadium are directed and against Rama, who defeated in the election forces supporting Greater Albania project. There is no reason to treat Tirana in Belgrade differently than 109 countries that have recognized Kosovo’s independence, and with whom Serbia has maintained good relations – highlights Janjic.
DSS, JS and Drecun against the arrival of Rama
Prior to yesterday’s agreement between the prime ministers, against the arrival of Rama in Belgrade pleaded: the SNS official and the President of the Parliamentary Committee for Kosovo, Milovan Drecun, the JS leader Dragan Marković Palma and President of DSS Sanda Raskovic Ivic. Markovic said he “would never have received Rama, because it’s pouring salt into the wounds of Serbian families from KiM.” Sanda Raskovic Ivic believes that “Albanian Prime Minister at this time is not welcome and urges Vucic to postpone his visit.”
Roundtable on Serbian-Albanian cooperation
Roundtable on “Cooperation between Albania and Serbia,” scheduled for October 22, at which the main speaker should be Edi Rama, is postponed as Rama’s visit for November, confirmed Dusan Janjic. The organizers are the Forum for Ethnic Relations and the Fund for an Open Society. The idea is to get the Serbian public familiar with the situation in Albania, primarily economics, diplomacy, public and private sectors, as well as its views on regional cooperation.
