The First Balkan Diplomatic Tour of Albanian Foreign Minister

AIM Tirana, September 6, 2001

The status of the chairman of the South-Eastern Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP), regional initiative the Balkanese themselves know very little about, forced Albanian foreign minister Paskal Milo to tackle the heat and scepticism that surround Macedonian crisis and to undertake a diplomatic tour of the capitals in the region. Having set out from Tirana on July 30, on a private charter flight, Milo intended to convince in 48 hours his Romanian, Yugoslav, Greek and Turkish homologues that regional solidarity among the countries of the Balkan was stronger than the fruit of historical distrust that poisoned their mutual relations, and that SEECP was reliable "ground" for new regional strategy in preventing and resolving crisis.

The diplomatic tour of Albanian foreign minister started and ended at the moment when the talks between the Albanians and the Macedonians in Ohrid were on the threshold of reaching a compromise with the help of two international mediators Pardew and Leotard. With one eye on the developments on the scene of the conflict, Milo and his team were forced to modify a few times their stands, demands and proposals for the five ministers in the region. And this was, along with the known problems in the Balkan, the main technical difficulty for the mission urgently prepared by official Tirana.

The question of the content of talks with regional foreign ministers and the manner of treatment of Macedonian crisis were the main preoccupation for the team of Albanian ministers during the entire diplomatic tour. Multiple difficulties of this original move of a diplomacy which historically is not used to the role of a protagonist, may it even be in the Balkan, referred to the delicate position of Albania concerning Macedonian crisis, its limited possibilities to move other diplomacies in the region from their stands and it ended with the still low rating of the initiative concerning SEECP in international framework. On the other hand, by taking the post of the chairman of this initiative in the beginning of the year, Albania publicly stated that its priority as the head of SEECP would be European integration, the struggle against illegal trade and energy crisis. As the result, the disassociation from this trend Tirana has cautiously picked out from a bundle of initiatives of previous chairmen created significant difficulties in sending the message Milo and his government wished to address to Sofia, Bucharest, Belgrade, Ankara and Athens.

Nevertheless, in Milo's dossier there were several moves which were discussed in detail at the meetings with his colleagues. There were also other issues that concerned the crisis in Skopje. In treating the latter, Albanian foreign minister tried to act differently in various capitals of the Balkan depending on the sensibility Macedonian problem had created in each of the countries of the region. According to diplomatic sources in Tirana, in Bucharest Milo appealed on the fact that Romania, as chairman of OSCE, join the long-term stabilisation process in Macedonia in case a political agreement is reached. In Sofia he told his just appointed homologue that he considered the influence Bulgarian government has on Slav Macedonian population very significant, while in Belgrade, he included the problem of Kosovo and general elections scheduled to take place there in the talks with foreign minister Svilanovic and federal prime minister PepsiCo. In Ankara and Athens, Albanian foreign minister demanded greater engagement of the two biggest countries in the region in order to exert pressure on the government in Skopje to accept the peace plan.

Milo's plan (although officially Albanian foreign ministry denies that it existed) it is claimed contained several proposals linked more to the future of political compromise in Skopje than to resolving the dead-end the talks had reached and Macedonian crisis itself. Head of Albanian diplomatic service proposed to his colleagues to come out with a joint declaration after reaching a peace agreement as the minimum variant of the engagement of member countries of SEECP including possibly publication of an article or appeal in Western press which would be signed by all heads of diplomacies in the region. The plan does not eliminate the possibility of preparation of a diplomatic mission of regional format which would travel to Skopje but only after a successful termination of Albanian-Macedonian talks.

Diplomatic sources in Tirana say that Milo told the Balkan foreign ministers that it would be unproductive if the mission of two or three high officials from the countries of the Balkan as representatives of SEECP traveled to Macedonia as long as peace negotiations were in progress.

At a press conference after return to Tirana Minister Milo said that he had met with full understanding of his Balkan colleagues. He declared that his proposals were received well by his homologues, including Belgrade, where he was the first foreign minister in an official visit in the past 13 years.

According to Milo's view, the diplomatic tour initiated by Albanian diplomacy was aimed at seeking and ensuring support from outside for the negotiating process in Macedonia creating in this way “a healthy environment for the talks and around them” as he declared. Observed in this way Albanian initiative in fact has the effects of specific indirect pressure of Tirana on the other capitals of the Balkan aimed at accepting the peace plan which was altered a few times and which was accepted by Albanian parties in Macedonia. Sources from diplomatic circles say that Albanian foreign minister discussed the items of this plan in detail with his colleagues, taking time especially concerning the use of Albanian language and the composition of local police – the two hot items of the peace agreement.

Skopje was not on the list of the Balkan tour of Albanian head of diplomacy. Minister Milo himself declared that by avoiding to go to Macedonia he wished to avoid "wrong interpretations of a visit at the moment when peace negotiations entered the delicate phase". Not concealing that he had discussed this fact at the meetings in the region, Milo hurried to declare that he was "planning to travel to Skopje soon”, without stating the approximate date. Diplomatic sources inform that, after his return to Tirana, Minister Milo's office addressed a few notes to his homologue in Skopje in order to establish contact.

The fact that this visit of Albanian foreign minister did not take place was treated with suspicion in a part of the press in Tirana which commented that evading of the epicentre of the crisis in Milo's itinerary was hard to understand. This gesture was broadly commented as a lack of vision and fear of Albanian officials to directly face the crisis that had broken out in the neighbouring state. In addition to these critics of a few dailies there were doubts of some media concerning the diplomatic tour which they consider as an attempt to consolidate the internal position of Minister Milo on the eve of the establishment of the new government cabinet. Hardly anyone noticed that the initiative of Albanian head of diplomacy in the capacity of chairman of SEECP was the first Balkan tour in the postwar history of Albanian diplomacy, a precedent which seems to be predetermined to last.

Gentian KAME

(AIM)