Thewesternbalkans
At an intergovernmental meeting between the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Kosovo on 18.11.2024 in Pristina, a protocol was signed between the two governments on the implementation of the Agreement on joint border crossings “Blatse – Elez Han” and “Jajinci-Globocica”. The agreement regulates the manner of inspections and customs control, the infrastructure of the common border crossings, the interconnection of border management systems and the manner of maintenance of the facilities. During the meeting, a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ministries of Science and Education of the two countries and a memorandum on energy, mining and mineral resources, including a study for a direct gas connection between the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Kosovo, were also signed.
The agreement on a new customs control procedure between the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Kosovo provides that from January 1, both border crossings will operate under the “one-stop desk” model, which will significantly facilitate border crossing.
According to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the unprecedented growth in trade between the two countries is also reflected in the increase in the mobility of citizens. From January to November of this year alone, 5 million border crossings have already been registered between Kosovo and North Macedonia. For comparison: for the whole of 2019, there were about 3 million crossings. At the same time, trade between the two countries has increased by 52% since 2019, and Kosovo’s exports to North Macedonia have increased from 44 million euros in 2019 to 121 million in 2023.
North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Kristian Mickoski says that the decision to establish common border crossing points leads to a “Europe without borders.”
Comment: The agreement on common border crossing points will benefit the Kosovo-Albanian side more in the long term. In April last year, Kosovo simplified the procedure for crossing the border with Albania. Citizens living in settlements within 30 km of the land border can now cross it freely. In fact, this is the first real step towards the abolition of the border, which some Albanian politicians have long dreamed of.
“The unification of Albanians is inevitable and undeniable,” said Edi Rama in the spring of 2015. In October 2020, a joint meeting of the governments of Albania and Kosovo was held in Tirana. “Our goal is to abolish the border between Albania and Kosovo. I believe that it is important that the interior ministries of both countries increase their efforts to ensure real-time control of border crossings, which will allow us to finally open the border without losing a single centimeter of land…”, Rama said at the time. In the fall of 2021, Edi Rama stated on Albanian television that the unification of Albania and Kosovo is the goal of his political career.
The idea of an “ethnic, historical, natural Albania” lives in the minds of many Albanians, as a reflection of the injustices inflicted on them in 1912 and 1913. The understanding of the supporters of pan-Albanian ideas includes not only Albania proper and the Republic of Kosovo, but also part of North Macedonia, as well as the Serbian communities in Preševo, Medvedja and Bujanovac. According to the Kosovo politician Azem Vlasi, it is around Kosovo that the Albanians will begin to gather “their” lands in the Balkans.
After Kosovo declared unilateral independence from Serbia in 2008, serious attempts are being made to create a single cultural and economic space between Kosovo and Albania, considering in perspective the possibility of “blurring the borders” between Albania and Kosovo and their economic merger.
According to sociological surveys in 2021 more than 80% of the population of Kosovo, over 70% of the inhabitants of Albania, as well as more than 50% of the Macedonian Albanians already agree that the borders of Albania should become “ethnic”. At the same time, about half of the respondents in Kosovo and Metohija and 40% in Albania believe that the emergence of a Greater Albanian state within its broadest ethnic borders is possible in the foreseeable future.
