Albanian minister urges EU to help Kosovo economy

Full article text:

Albania's foreign minister this week called on the EU to step up preparations to make sure an independent Kosovo was economically sustainable, amid fears that poverty in the province could spur calls for unification with Albania.

"I would like the European Union to initiate the work right now to think about the post-independence Kosovo, so that the relevant preparations are made," said Besnik Mustafaj, listing energy, construction of a free market and agri-business as areas where the EU could prepare work.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said the EU executive was "already preparing for whatever the final status outcome in Kosovo is".

Since 1999 the EU has led UN efforts on reconstruction and economic development in the province.

But some analysts have said that these efforts were largely unsuccessful. "There have been absolutely huge amounts of money already poured into Kosovo, an unprecedented amount of reconstruction and development aid," said Lucia Montanaro-Jankovski from the European Policy Centre, adding: "Effectively little has changed."

Mustafaj sought to allay fears that independence for Kosovo could lead to the creation of a 'Greater Albania'.

During a visit to Brussels this week for talks with Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Mustafaj sought to clarify earlier comments about the region's bord- ers which received a cool reception among EU diplomats.

The minister recently came under fire for suggesting Albania could not guarantee the inviolability of borders in the region if Serb-dominated regions of Kosovo were autonomous.

"A common language is not enough to establish a state," Mustafaj said in an interview.

Talks on Kosovo's final status have so far focused on trying to find the balance between autonomy for Serb-dominated areas and integration with the central authorities in Pristina.

The EU has pressed hard for Kosovo to be established as a multi-ethnic state, fearing that carving up the province along ethnic lines would prompt further instability and attempts to redraw other borders in the region.

Around 25% of Macedonia's population are ethnic-Albanians and there are sizable Albanian minorities in Greece, Montenegro and Serbia.

Addressing these concerns, Mustafaj said whatever the outcome in Kosovo, another Albanian state or a Greater Albania were not options.

"There will not be two Albanian states there will be one single Albanian state in the Balkans which will be the Republic of Albania, there will also be a state of Kosovo which will be a multiethnic state.

"This theory of a greater Albania has not been invented by the Albanian state; this is chiefly a term that has been invented by Serb historiography and Serb politicians."

Mustafaj insisted Kosovo must now be integrated with the region and with the EU.

"We have to envisage an integrated Kosovo rather than an isolated Kosovo, an integrated Kosovo means in an integrated region and an integrated Europe."

He said Albania would work on creating access to Albanian ports for Kosovo and ensuring that transport and trade links between Albania and Kosovo were equal to those between Kosovo and Belgrade.

Comments by Albania's Foreign Minister, who called on the European Union to step up preparations to make sure an independent Kosovo was economically sustainable, amid fears that poverty in the territory could spur calls for unification with Albania.