The joint article by Prime Minister Edi Rama and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in the German media regarding the exclusion of the two countries' EU integration process has caused a debate today in the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Summoned to the committee, Foreign Minister Ferit Hoxha said that the joint editorial is not interpreted as a special alliance between these two countries. He denied that the published article has harmed Kosovo.
On the other hand, Democratic MP Tritan Shehu stated that the article by Albania and Serbia requires an intermediate path to EU membership, which Brussels does not accept.
The debate
Ferit Hoxha:
The fact that this opinion was signed together with him should not and cannot be interpreted as an indication of any particular alliance or, even less, of any project against anyone, neither in the region nor outside it. It is just an article: neither an alliance nor a project.
On the contrary, it proves that the countries of the region, despite often deep differences (such as those we have with Serbia, in particular in the extreme incompatibility regarding Kosovo), are able to find common ground when strategic interests coincide. European integration is one of these major interests that requires cooperation, dialogue and pragmatism.
Much has been written and said that those two-page article would have harmed Kosovo. This is absolutely unfounded.
Tritan Shehu:
The Rama-Vučić article damages us a lot. It seeks to find a middle ground. There is no middle ground, there is only one path, that of meeting standards. Who are we to determine the modalities? We must be realistic. The EU was built as a space of values, freedom and democracy and these have been violated in Albania. It is an article that goes with Rama's old line that began with the Open Balkans. You linked us to Serbia. It is a big strategic mistake. We have nothing in common with Serbia. They are heading East, towards Russia, this is Serbia. By linking us to Serbia, you severely damage Albania. Why are you doing this? Because the regimes are afraid of the EU and in this line Tirana and Belgrade are the same.
The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, proposed in February a new approach to the European integration of the Western Balkan countries.
In a joint opinion published in the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the two leaders suggest a "realistic path" towards the European Union, shifting the focus from full membership to integration into the European single market and the Schengen area.
In their writing, Rama and Vučić do not insist on a quick deadline for EU membership, but propose the inclusion of prepared candidate countries in the common market and free movement in the Schengen area. According to them, this would bring immediate benefits to the citizens and respective economies, while also strengthening the economic and geopolitical position of the EU itself.
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