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Greek Scholar Outlines the Road Ahead of Albanian-Greek relations

Politiko 15 Korrik 2019, 17:52

Greek Scholar Outlines the Road Ahead of Albanian-Greek relations

By Liridon Cecja

In an interview for Politiko.al Nikolaos Tzifakis outlines the road ahead of the Greek-Albanian relations after the last elections that gave a majority to the right wing Party Nea Demokratia and its leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The Greek scholar is not shy to mention the cozy relationship between PM Rama of Albania and the Turkish President Erdogan. Going back a few years Mr. Tzifakis remembers Mr. Rama as someone who stood against the Maritime Agreement reached by Albanian and Greek governments of the time, both of the right.

Nikolaos Tzifakis (Ph.D., Lancaster University) is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of the Peloponnese and Research Associate of the Martens Centre for European Studies. He has research interests in IR theory, EU external policies and the Balkans.

Mr. Tzifakis, what should we expect from the new Greek government, led by Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis in relation to Albania. [Let me bring you up to speed on the fact that during the last days of his campaign, he threatened Albania of putting a veto to the opening of EU negotiations, all this sparked by 'lack of rights of the Greek minority in southern Albania'].

Greece has traditionally been a strong supporter of the Western Balkans EU accession. We should not forget its role in the Thessaloniki Summit. However, Athens will not accept anything less than the full implementation of the Copenhagen criteria that explicitly include the respect for minority rights. Both SYRIZA and New Democracy have been requesting the full respect and protection of the property rights of the Greek minority in Albania. On this topic, the Greek political system has a single uniform approach. If Tirana does not resolutely deal with this problem, Athens may be found on the side of the EU member-states that would only agree to the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia.

There is a perception that the relations between the two countries have been in decline since 2013 when PM Edi Rama came to power. Is this perception true in Greek political circles and what is your point of view?

The prevailing view in Greece is that PM Edi Rama is closer to Ankara and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan than to Athens and his Greek counterparts. Edi Rama is also charged in Greece of having personally caused the collapse of the 2009 agreement for the delimitation of maritime borders between the two countries. His term in power has also coincided with the rise of PDIU, a party that has tried to bring to the surface the Cham issue. While PM Rama (and Albania by extension) should not be held responsible for all bilateral problems, I would agree with you that, so far, his term has not marked positively the Greek-Albanian relations.

After Mr. Kotzias leaving office, it seems that the 'Maritime Agreement' has stopped and there is no more desire to keep on it. What is the future for this controversial agreement?

To the best of my knowledge, the two sides were very close to reaching an agreement in the first half of 2018 and the entire process was discontinued once differences of views emerged in Albania between the President and the government. Later on, the signing of the Prespa Agreement reduced the Greek government's margins of reaching another compromise entailing some political cost. And the deterioration of bilateral relations following the tragic event of 28 October 2018, when Konstantinos Katsifas was shot dead by Albanian Special forces, demonstrated that the progress that has been attained so far was fragile.

We should not forget that the two countries reached an agreement in 2009 that was not ratified owing to its collapse in the Albanian Constitutional Court. I am mentioning it to claim that the delimitation of the maritime border is not an intractable dispute. The two sides can easily reach again an agreement, in the application of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

How would you describe the new Foreign Minister, Mr. Nikos Dendias [in comparison to Mr. Nikolaos Kotzias] and their stands in relation to Albania?

I wouldn’t draw any comparisons between any two people. It is neither easy nor appropriate. I would just say that Mr. Dendias is a very capable moderate politician who will definitely work for the increase of the effectiveness of Greek foreign policy and the improvement of Greek-Albanian relations.