TIRANA, Albania — Albania’s prime minister said a union between Albania and Kosovo cannot be ruled out if EU membership prospects for the Western Balkans fade.

A growing political crisis in Albania, fears over foreigners buying up land in Serbia and problems of youth radicalisation are among the top stories on Balkan Insight this week.

Hotting Up

The political scene in Albania seems to be getting more and more heated by the day. No accident, given that Parliamentary elections are only two months away, prior to which the country’s Parliament will need to elect a new President.

Macedonia gave the world Alexander the Great, who, legend has it, wept because he could find no more lands to conquer. Now, George Soros, the left-wing billionaire who also wants to rule the world, is meddling with events that could plunge Macedonia into chaos or civil war, and escalate U.S. tensions with Russia.

TIRANA: Albania and Croatia have asked NATO to revise plans for its peace-keeping mission in Kosovo, arguing that nationalist rhetoric by Serb politicians threatens to destabilise the region scarred by the 1990s wars.

Relations between Serbia and its former province Kosovo came under renewed strain since Belgrade sent a train painted with the slogan "Kosovo is Serbia" to the border and Kosovo police said it would stop it from entering its territory.

The recent developments in Kosovo, from the detention of AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj by French authorities on an arrest warrant issued by Serbia to the Serbian train that tried to enter Kosovo without permission of its authorities were part of discussion in today’s meeting of Albanian parliament’s commission on foreign affairs. The chair of the commission, Arta Dade, said a special session of the Assembly of Albania will be called to discuss the situation in Kosovo. “Events in Kosovo are concerning and damaging for stability in the region,” said Dade.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Nebojša Stefanović said today in a letter to the Secretary General of Interpol Jürgen Stock that the request of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Albania for the reassessment of the red warrant for Ramush Haradinaj represented rough and unacceptable interference of one state in sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia.

The Foreign Minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Nikola Popov, assesses that it is not proper or suitable for Albania and Kosovo to interfere on the internal affairs of FYROM. “It is not decent and not appropriate when the Prime Minister or the President of the neighboring country interferes directly on the internal affairs, especially during the period of implementation of the elections in e democratic manner and prior to the creation of the government. Wrong messages are being sent in the region.

Montengro’s Foreign Minister, Srdjan Darmanović, said during his visit to Tirana that his country is in good relations with Kosovo. Speaking about demarcation, he said that this matter does not represent a problem for Montenegro, and that it is an internal problem of Kosovo.  “This matter belongs to the political forces in Kosovo to resolve. It is their internal problem,” he said.

The political settlement in the former Yugoslavia is unraveling. In Bosnia, the weakest state in the region, both Serbs and Croats are mounting a concerted challenge to the Dayton peace accords, the delicate set of compromises that hold the country together. In Macedonia, political figures from the large Albanian minority are calling for the federalization of the state along ethnic lines. In Kosovo, the Serb minority is insisting on the creation of a network of self-governing enclaves with effective independence from the central government.

Serbia's B92 media outlet and the Albanian Daily News (ADN) newspaper from Albania have inked a memorandum of understanding.

The document was signed on Friday in Tirana by ADN Director General Anisa Skendaj and B92 President of the Board of Directors Veran Matic.

Under the memorandum, the two media companies will be sharing their content at no cost to either – including news, features, editorials, and columns - and strive to explore other ways of cooperation.