Prime Minister Edi Rama reacted on X to the debates that started after Vučić's statement that Serbia is considering diverting the flow of the Ibar River. Foreign Minister Ferit Hoxha reacted to these statements, to which his Serbian counterpart Marko Đurić responded.
RAMA'S REACTION:
Very interesting summer retort between our foreign ministers. Although I was expecting an answer regarding the #Ibri, we somehow traveled from hydrology to international law, made the obligatory stop in "Greater Albania", passed through "Kosovo and Metohija" and finally arrived at the well-known museum of Serbian historical anxieties.
There is a particular piece of political folklore in Belgrade that seems immune to time: whenever Albania talks about #Kosovo, "Greater Albania" must be immediately invoked, as if repetition might one day transform an old ghost into a compelling argument.
It won't happen.
Albania has no claim on Serbian territory and has no need to invent one. Nor do we need a "Greater Albania" to stand with Kosovo.
Kosovo is a separate state. The Albanians of Kosovo are exactly that: Albanians of Kosovo. They have their own Republic, their own institutions, and their own right to determine their own future. We will always stand by that right.
Serbia lost Kosovo. Repeating what it did not lose could perhaps turn defeat into victory in the geography of political imagination, but unfortunately maps are less than adequate. The territory of the Republic of #Kosovo is not Serbian territory and the natural resources located within it are not resources of the Republic of Serbia. Our Serbian friends know this very well, including every time we sit together around European tables.
So, let's go back to the river.
The original issue remains exactly where Albania left it: #Ibri is a transboundary water system. Serbia is completely free to manage the resources within its jurisdiction. What it cannot reasonably argue is that the potential consequences for another country magically stop at the Serbian border.
After all, that's why international water law exists. Rivers have the inconvenient habit of following geography rather than diplomatic talking points.
The situation of the Serbian community in Kosovo was also mentioned. Their rights matter. Their safety matters. Their property, language, cultural and religious heritage must be protected. Albania has never had a problem saying this, because this is simply what a democratic state owes its citizens.
And here we come to perhaps the most entertaining acrobatic maneuver in this exchange: warning Albania against ethnic expansionism while referring, in the same statement, to the territory of another sovereign state as if it were still Serbian. That's a pretty long squared circle.
Maybe it works within a political bubble in Serbia. Outside of it, the geometry becomes less tolerant. And yes, I couldn't agree more that the future of our region should be a future where borders progressively lose their power to divide us. Absolutely.
But there is one small prerequisite before borders become less important: the acceptance of those who are already there. The genius of the European project was precisely the separation of national belonging from territorial appetite.
The Albanians of Kosovo are Albanians of Kosovo. Albania will stand with them and their Republic because we share history, language, families and a future, but above all because a free, democratic and secure Kosovo is a legitimate European state and an indispensable part of the stability of our region.
There is nothing clandestine about this position. There never has been. There are no secret maps. There are no hidden boundaries. Nothing "bigger" is required.
Therefore, Albania's position will remain exactly the same in public and privately: we respect Serbia, we want good neighborly relations with Serbia, and we want the entire region to be within Europe - Serbia fully included.
But good neighborliness cannot mean asking every neighbor of Serbia to forever switch to the Serbian version of history.
The Balkans have already paid dearly, in blood and lost time, for that special accommodation.
Meanwhile, the #Ibri, completely unaware of all our historical cartography, will continue to flow according to geography and not folklore.
