The leader of the Vetvendosje Movement in Kosovo and future Prime Minister Albin Kurti met with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana yesterday.
Sources who witnessed the meeting told Exit that they met for a lunch meeting but passed most of it in silence.
Rama and Kurti have a historically strained relationship during Kurti’s first term as Prime Minister in 2020. In May last year, Kurti said that relations between Rama and himself were “frozen” and that despite efforts to maintain a relationship, Rama had not cooperated.
“I do not have any relations with Prime Minister Rama. I proposed to meet together at the end of March […] to discuss the issue of combating the COVID-19 pandemic, but also about each other’s concerns because the border should not separate us.”
He voiced support for the National Theatre, stating that it belongs to “all Albanians, even the diaspora”. He added that the act of demolishing it in the early hours of the morning seemed like “neoliberal logic rather than a care for the culture of urbanization.”
He also claimed that Rama had refused to respond to him on various matters, and kept a complete silence on matters in Kosovo. It was reported that following the failure for the two to agree on the Mini-Schengen initiative, the refusal of Kurti to drop tariffs on Serbian goods, and Rama’s increasing friendship with Serbia, were instrumental in the freezing of relations.
Yet, shortly after the 2021 Kosovo elections, Rama extended his congratulations to “the clear election winners” Vetevendosj.
Kurti also met with the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, and with President Ilir Meta.
Representatives of VV in Albania told Exit that in the meetings:
“Kurti presented the need for increased coordination between Kosovo and Albania, especially in terms of foreign policy. He also discussed the need to increase cooperation and integration in important sectors for the nations.”
