Albania's PM brushes off union with Kosovo

(TIRANA) - Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha brushed off Friday any possibility of uniting his country with ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo, saying the only future for the two neighbours was within the European Union.

"There is only one project for the union of the Albanians and it is European integration", without changing the existing borders, Berisha said in a statement.

However, "Red and Black," a nationalist movement fighting for union between Tirana and Pristina, said the "union between Albania and Kosovo does not depend on politicians' will."

"Self-determination is an universal principle and right of the peoples despite politics," the movement said in reaction to Berisha's statement.

Since Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence in 2008, Serbia -- which has never accepted the move -- has often voiced fears of unification of the two territories, thus creating a so-called "Greater Albania."

Kosovo's independence has been recognised by the United States and most, but not all, European Union countries, while Serbia still considers the territory officially its southern province.

Concerns were also stirred by the 2009 construction of a highway linking Albania and Kosovo, called "the nation's road" which according to the authorities in Tirana would end the separation of the Albanian nation.