TIRANA, Oct 12 /ATA/-By Maela Marini/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama stated Thursday that Albania’s decision not to align itself with the European Union’s statement on Kosovo was a principled attitude, a manifestation of discontent and a constructive discordance in order to send a clear message about the consequence of Banjska attack and its impact on the normalization through dialogue and regional cooperation.
In his remarks at parliament session on a motion put forward for debate by the DP lawmaker Kreshnik Çollaku on Albania’s position regarding the most recent events in northern Kosovo, PM Rama underlined that “this is the first time in the last decade when Albania doesn’t align itself with the EU statement.”
“That statement was mainly about Kosovo and its obligations in the dialogue process and there was almost no reference to Serbia at all. Although the truth is that its approval by the 27 member countries procedurally coincided immediately after the serious event of the murder of the Kosovo policeman and the declaration of national mourning in Belgrade for the criminals and this was not reflected in the statement approved prior to the incident. We didn’t oppose the statement itself, as Kosovo should definitely reflect about the critics and the requests forwarded by Brussels and Washington. However, it is unacceptable that the declaration was released as if nothing else had happened,” he stated.
The Premier said that the decision not to align with the EU’s foreign policy statement was not made in a bid to score political gains domestically.
“We didn’t make a gesture to gain electoral support, as it is unfortunately the case for a long time now a series of gestures by the government in Pristina regarding the normalization dialogue, including gestures towards our government. Instead, we took a principled and political position in order to encourage Brussels to make sure that the 27-member bloc takes a unified position, not just in relation to the event and the Belgrade’s unacceptable attitude, not just in words, but also through meaningful measures against Serbia and in view of what may ensue in the future,” he added.
/u.sh/
