The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, has called the escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo completely unreasonable, while calling on the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, “not to feed certain groups in the north of Kosovo with any kind of justification”.
During a media conference with the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, who is staying in Tirana as part of his tour of the region, Rama said that the Government of Kosovo “has the right and the duty to exercise territorial sovereignty that stems from an independence in the administration of the state”.
“I call on the authorities in Belgrade and the Serbian president not to provide any kind of excuse or alibi to certain groups in the north of Kosovo who, for their own reasons, oppose the implementation of an agreement,” said Rama.
Rama’s reaction came after a day of escalating tensions in Kosovo, where the Kosovo Government’s decision to implement reciprocity with Serbia for car license plates and travel documents for Serbian citizens was opposed by local Serbs, who set up barricades in the northern part of Kosovo.
The two border crossing points in the north of Kosovo with Serbia – Jarinje and Bërnjak – were temporarily closed due to tensions.
Concerned about an escalation, at the request of the United States, the Government of Kosovo agreed to postpone the implementation of the two decisions until September 1, but only after all the barricades are removed.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, said that Spain does not recognize Kosovo’s independence because its declaration, according to him, violated international law.
“We think that it is a unilateral declaration of independence, this is the opinion, this is the opinion of the Spanish Government, with all the respect I have for the opinion of the Albanian Government. We think that international law has been violated,” said Sanchez.
“We cannot be in favor of this acceptance, with all the respect we have for the Albanian people”, added Sanchez.
The Spanish Prime Minister that this stance against the independence of Kosovo, “does not mean that we do not promote the dialogue with Pristina to get closer to the EU”.
Spain is one of the five European Union and four NATO countries that does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, announced in 2008.
Together with Romania, Greece, Slovakia and Cyprus, these countries deny Kosovo’s citizenship by invoking international law while facing separatist movements within their countries, or have traditional relations with Serbia.
Non-recognition by the member countries of NATO and the EU represents the main obstacle for Kosovo to integrate into these two organizations, where decisions on expansion are made with the consensus of all members.
