Rama’s declaration about common president, reactions in EU and Kosovo

“Albania and Kosovo will have a unique foreign policy, not just unique diplomatic sees and embassies. Why not, even a symbolic president of national unity and a unique national policy of security. This might seem not rational today, but history has taught us that what can be dreamt about, it’s not impossible to get realized”, Rama said.

Are these words the prelude of a plan for unification with Kosovo before the EU integration? However it may be, the declaration has raised alarms in Brussels.

“Declarations that could be interpreted as political interventions in neighbouring countries don’t help to build good relations with neighbours”, says the Spokesperson for Foreign Policy and Security at the EU, Catherine Ray.

The EU notes that Brussels supports the clear integration perspective of Western Balkan, to underline that the only common destination for Albania and Kosovo is the EU.

The proposition for a joint national president for Albania and Kosovo comes after Prime Minister Rama appointed four Deputy Ministers from Kosovo at the new Albanian government.

But the appointing of a single President is an impossible process, from the legal point of view.

The proposition was seen with scepticism even in Kosovo. The General Secretary of the Kosovo Democratic League, Ismet Beqiri, commented on Facebook that such declarations, which are just words, damage Kosovo’s Euro-Atlantic integration.

The Kosovo analyst, Imer Mushkolaj, said for BIRN that the Prime Minister of Albania was only trying to attract political attention. According to him, Rama knows that the proposition is impossible. “The declaration seems hypocrite if we keep in mind that both states have basic cooperation problems, starting with customs fees”, he says.

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