By Gordana Filipovic and Misha Savic - Nov 10, 2014

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic rejected an appeal by his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama to recognize Kosovo’s independence in the first visit by an Albanian leader in almost seven decades.

Rama, the first Albanian senior official to visit Serbia since Cold War-era leader Enver Hoxha in 1947, said in Belgrade today Kosovo’s independence was an “unchangeable reality,” after he and Vucic agreed to join forces and clamp down on customs violations. His trip was delayed last month after a soccer brawl.

“An independent Kosovo is a reality accepted by a great number of countries,” Rama said at a joint press conference, speaking through interpreter. “The sooner you recognize that, the faster the progress we can make in all aspects.”

The two European Union entry candidates have been at odds since the 1999 conflict in Kosovo, a breakaway Serb province populated by a majority of ethnic Albanians. Trying to calm ties in the region, Germany pressured the two countries to reschedule Rama’s original Oct. 22 visit, according to Predrag Simic, a political analyst in Belgrade and the former Yugoslav ambassador to France.

Serbia, the largest ex-Yugoslav republic, wants to join the EU at the end of this decade and is under pressure to work with Kosovo, whose declaration of independence in 2008 was recognized by a majority of EU states and rejected by Russia, which claims historical ties to the Balkan country.
Strained Relations

Kosovo “is part of Serbia according to its Constitution, and it’s got nothing to do with Albania,” Vucic said, adding that Serbia “won’t be humiliated in the heart of Belgrade.”

The strained relations between Serbia and Albania suffered a further blow Oct. 14 when they abandoned a European Championship qualifying match in Belgrade because of violence that Serbia says was triggered the Albanian leader’s brother, who denied involvement.

“Under the circumstances, such a visit will not yield expected results,” Simic said by phone on Nov. 8. Serbia and Albania will have to wait for “a new chance for their relations to warm.”

Albania was among the first to recognize Kosovo’s secession from Serbia, refuting Serbian claims it’s trying to eventually merge with its ethnic kin in the province to create a Greater Albania.
Abandoned Match

The soccer-match brawl erupted when a remote-controlled drone buzzed the field, carrying a flag with the map of Greater Albania, which includes Kosovo and parts of Greece, Montenegro and Macedonia. Serbia accused Rama’s brother, Olsi, who was at the stadium, of steering the drone by remote control.

“The football game showed us that we still have much to do to make the pace of change more solid, stable and unbreakable,” Rama told students at Harvard Institute of Politics, according to an Oct. 17 statement on his government’s website.

Albania, an Adriatic NATO member of 3 million people, wants to open a new chapter of cooperation with Serbia and other countries, Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati told Serbian state newswire Tanjug on Oct. 23. Building closer economic ties could help, he said.

While Serbia, a country of 7.2 million people, is aiming for EU membership, it’s also tried to improve ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, rejecting sanctions imposed by the EU on the country. More than 70 percent of Serbs want closer ties with Russia, according to an Oct. 1-15 poll of 1,050 people from the Belgrade-based New Serbian Political Thought Institute. No margin of error was given.