Albanian Prime Minister Calls for Freezing Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue

Edi Rama, Belgrade, Nov. 4 2021(BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/DS)

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama emphasized during a Dec. 20 joint session of the parliaments of Kosovo and Albania, held in Pristina, that Kosovo should freeze its dialogue with Serbia and seek the normalization of relations with Belgrade through bilateral dialogue with the European Union.

"At this crucial stage for Kosovo in European and Euro-Atlantic integrations, Kosovo must freeze, suspend, as you say, indefinitely, its bilateral dialogue with Serbia, and strive to normalize relations with its northern neighbor through a bilateral dialogue with the EU, cut the umbilical cord of nationalist reciprocity with Serbia, and connect the umbilical cords of European reciprocity with the EU," Rama stated.

According to Rama, it would be better for Kosovo and Albania to proceed side by side. "As Albania rapidly progresses on its path to Europe, imagine the pride that all Albanians would feel, and the value we would add to the Albanian name and to the power of Albanianhood wherever Albanians may live, if we walk this path shoulder to shoulder with Kosovo," Rama said.

The Albanian prime minister added that the blame for the degradation of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue should fall on Serbia. "We will, hand in hand, peacefully and while preserving peace, convince even the most diehard sceptics in the EU of the absurdity of their reservations about recognizing Kosovo as a sovereign state. In their eyes, the blame for the degradation of the dialogue must be solely Serbia’s, but we must never allow even a gram of blame to fall on Kosovo," Rama stated.