The DUI party came out against the proposal that a Community of Albanian Municipalities is created in Macedonia, similar to the proposal for an organization of Serbian municipalities in Kosovo. The proposal was put forward by the Alternative party, which was recently removed from the SDSM – DUI coalition to make way for the bigger Alliance of Albanians.

It’s a pathetic, anti-American and anti-European request that harms the efforts to have a final solution to the Kosovo issue. This is a failed attempt of a party to survive on the political scene after the fiasco it suffered and its destructive realignment, the DUI party said.

There is a renewed push to get Serbia to recognize Kosovo, and having a level of autonomy for the Serbs in Kosovo is seen as a way to sweeten the deal. But Albanians in Macedonia are now making similar requests. Besides the Alternative party, the idea that a union of Albanian communities that will cooperate on infrastructure, education and other issues is created in Macedonia was also welcomed by Izet Mexhiti, a DUI official who leads a large faction within the party.

Meanwhile Arben Fetai, official from the Alliance of Albanians, criticized the current territorial, municipal division of Macedonia, by declaring that it created too many ethnic Macedonian “enclaves” between the Albanian municipalities. “The Macedonian enclaves, in territories inhabited by Albanians, were created with a Serbian method that was used in Kosovo, all to undermine the Albanian territorial continuity in the country”, Fetai writes in an editorial in which he calls for a redrawing of the municipal borders. His party is now a key support pillar of the SDSM – DUI coalition and will be in a position to impose such requests.