Unification of Albania and Kosovo


The unification of Albania and Kosovo is a political idea, revived since Kosovo declared independence in 2008. This idea has been brought into connection with the irredentist concept of Greater Albania. As of 2010s 93% of Kosovars are ethnic Albanians.
Unification at the practical level has already been achieved. The population of Kosovo is predominately Albanian. Kosovo and Albania share some common administrative sectors such as education, policing, and foreign policy.

History

During the 1981 protests in Kosovo Yugoslavia feared a potential unification of Kosovo to Albania. In early 1990s Albanian politicians' statements were contradictory in regards. Political activist Ukshin Hoti, founder of the Party of Albanian National Union, eventually killed by Serbian police in 1999, was a very vocal supporter of the unification of Kosovo with Albania. In 2001, Arben Imami, a politician from the Democratic Party of Albania, stated that unification of Kosovo with Albania should be a party goal, but this statement was met with criticism within his own party.
The Ahtisaari Plan conditioned Kosovo's independence by adopting a multiethnic “Kosovar,” rather than an Albanian identity. Still, Gallup surveys revealed that 75% of Kosovo Albanians would prefer to live unified with Albania in a single country. The same support was seen in Albania where 68% of the citizens of Albania preferred a unification of Albania with Kosovo. In 2017, some mainstream Albanian politicians, such as Ben Blushi, have come out in support of unification. In Kosovo, the largest opposition party Vetëvendosje supports unification.
In May 2019, president Hashim Thaçi suggested a referendum on the unification of Kosovo and Albania, if the slow integration process by the European Union does not accelerate. However, some simply view this as an attempt by Thaçi to “keep himself in the spotlight”, without any real intention of uniting the two countries.

Public opinion

Polls supporting unification of Kosovo with Albania notwithstanding, the goal of Albanian politicians has been entrance into NATO and the EU, rather than national unification. Some Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian Albanians fear that any possible unification of Balkan areas that bring sizable numbers of Muslims into the new state may lead to an increasing "Muslimization" of Albania.