Albania Lobbies for a NATO Seat

Albania's parliamentary speaker says with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, her nation is keen to align itself with the West, and wants Canada's support for an independent Kosovo.

By Jeff DavisIn advance of the 2008 NATO meeting in Bucharest where her country's entry into the security partnership will be decided, Jozefina Topalli, the speaker of the Albanian parliament was in Ottawa last week lobbying the Canadian government for its support. Ms. Topalli met with Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, the speakers of both the House and Senate, as well as senators serving on the defence and immigration committees. She says that Albania has the support of the United States as well as "the main important countries of Europe," in its accession bid. She said that Canada's support is also very important and that she was "very satisfied" with the meetings she had. Ms. Topalli says her country has long desired closer ties with the West through NATO and the European Union. Membership in NATO, she says, would make the international community see her country as part of Europe and would be a step towards entry into the European Union. Despite not being a NATO member, she says, Albania has pulled its weight on peacekeeping missions and in the American war on terror. Albania currently has troops in Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as 200 in Afghanistan. While these numbers may be small on the grander scale, she says, it is a significant contribution for a country of only 3.6 million. She adds that for years her country has spent two per cent of its budget on the military–something many NATO members fail to do. The NATO memberships of Macedonia and Croatia will also be decided at Bucharest. Ms. Topalli also lobbied for Canadian support of the Ahtissari Package that would allow the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo to transfer its responsibilities to Kosovo's government. The Ahtisaari Package, which must be adopted by the UN Security Council to take effect, would be a seminal step towards an independent Kosovo. Currently, Kosovo remains a province of Serbia although Serbia has not governed the country in any meaningful way since 1999 when the UNMIK took over after a war between NATO and Serb forces. Over 90 per cent of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian. The International Crisis Group, among others, says that Russia is using its power in the Security Council to limit Kosovo's independence. Russia has so far been successful, using its influence to have a draft resolution of the Ahtissari proposal formally discarded after it withheld support. Russia is using the Kosovo issue, Ms. Topalli says, as an instrument to pressure Western countries. "They are using Kosovo and they are blocking...the Ahtisaari Package because they want to demonstrate with this that they are an important factor on the global scene," she says. Her country is concerned with Russian actions, she says, because the region is not within Russia's sphere of influence and the resolution of Kosovo's status "is not a Russian issue." Delaying a final decision on Kosovo's status, she says, could destabilize the region. "I'm very concerned that if they're going to postpone and postpone the independence of Kosovo, the situation can be more risky," Ms. Topalli says. Piotr Dutkiewicz, director of Carleton University's Institute of European and Russian Studies, says he understands Russia's interest in Kosovo. The Balkan region, which is home to many Slavs and Orthodox Christians, bears many similarities to Russia and has traditionally had good relations with Russia. As a result, he says, the Russians see it as an area of interest to them and are resisting its drift into the Western sphere of influence. Furthermore, he says, "the way the Kosovo issue will be solved or unsolved will give Russia a good indicator how the international community will interpret some other frozen conflicts in which Russia is deeply involved." The term 'frozen conflicts' refers to a number of ongoing sovereignty disputes that followed the fall of the Soviet Union. These conflicts are transpiring in areas such as Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia –regions close to Russian borders. He says that statehood for Kosovo would inspire these areas to pursue a similar path. "This will trigger a process that will have major international implications," he says