Kosovo's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Justice, Donika Gërvalla, has reacted harshly to the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, after the publication of a joint editorial with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Gërvalla said that the article gives the impression that the Albanian prime minister intervenes to protect Vučić in difficult moments of his relations with the European Union.
"From time to time, the idea is created that when Vučić is put under pressure from the EU and Europe, Edi Rama comes out and gets him out of that situation," the minister stated.
She emphasized the strategic importance of Kosovo in any regional relationship and warned that Albania should not build cooperation alternatives with Serbia that bypass her country.
"The road from Tirana to Belgrade passes through Pristina, not only geographically, but also economically and politically," she said.
Gërvalla criticized the editorial's content, which proposes a joint integration of Albania and Serbia into the European Union, without mentioning Serbia's stance towards the West and its ties with countries such as Russia, China and Iran. According to her, this contradicts the Euro-Atlantic orientation of Albania and Kosovo.
