The visit to Tirana by the Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis took place within the positive context of bilateral relations. Pressurized or otherwise by the other Western allies, Greece approved the protocols of Albania’s membership to NATO and SAA with the European Union. These two moments mark the acceptance by a problematic neighboring State of the progress of the Albanian nation towards the West and its status. On the political plane, we believe that the visit by Mr. Karamanlis to Tirana has several interesting elements. It took place against an electoral backdrop for both countries: both Albania and Greece will soon be entering election periods. This appears to explain all the mutual smiling, back slapping and compliments exchanged. The work “fiend” describing PM Karamanlis is repeated ten times in a three quarter page press release of the Albanian Prime Minister’s Office, the same goes for the speech of the Greek Prime Minister after his meeting with PM Berisha. All the other press statements of the Albanian institutions, such as the Presidency, the Albanian Parliament follow suit. The wording of the press releases does not shed any light on the degree of annoyance these parties may have felt for each other related to the delicate issues that had to broach. Under Greek pressure Berisha stated that, “there remains no unresolved issue between the two countries.” Even from the Presidency, where perhaps something could have been expected, there was not a hint of a hitch as may have been expected during Mr. Topi’s visit to Greece. So it is obvious that there was a preliminary accord that there would be no feather ruffling during the visit, and that publicly they would be seen to be happy with making concessions to each other. These concessions are vital for both parties: As he heads into the closing period of his mandate, Karamanlis is a weak Greek Prime Minister and surveys show that he is on the way out too. Berisha, on the other hand, is just starting out on his electoral campaign, and every external propaganda favour would be warmly welcomed.
So what concessions did the sides make to each other? Let’s start with Albania. Albania failed to broach any of the main issues of the bi-lateral relations. What concessions did the parties make to each other? Let’s take Albania first. Albania did not raise any of the major problems in the relations between the two countries. The issue of the assets of Albanians in Greece. It made no mention of the issue of Cameria, either the humanitarian aspect, in other words the possibility of erecting a memorial to the victims of the genocide against the people of the region of Cameria at Filat or Paramith; or granting permission to senior members of the Cameria Community to arrange sight-seeing visits to the lands of their forefathers. The government did not raise the most complex issues of property ownership, nationality etc. Over all these years, no Albanian government has managed to impose its will as regards this issue, so neither did this happen during the latest visit by Karamanlis. Not even a whisper of at least tacking the issue of finding a fair solution to the issue of health insurance policies or social insurance for Albanian emigrants in general; essential contributions for the Greek pensions’ system. This has been realized with Italy, Turkey, etc. As the Greek press underlined, the issue of the schooling of the children of Albanian emigrants was not discussed. To preserve the smooth-running of this visit and the inviolability of the Greek Prime Minister, reporters were not permitted to ask questions; there was deliberate confusion over the date of the arrival of Karamanlis, to avoid protests against his visit. Berisha stated with great generosity and paradoxically that “there are no problems in our relations.”! The Greek side also made a few minor concessions. Several general words were uttered, which had to be repeated as frequently as possible, “in favour of the so-called liberalization of visas, something that originated from the Thessaloniki summit,” whilst, realistically speaking, Albania’s neighbors, members of the EU, have yet to show any concrete sign of facilitating this process, despite the agreement signed in this direction between Albania and the European Union. However, the DP needed such an announcement, without any concrete pledges attached; in the context of the electoral campaign so that it is launched as a party that is also making the liberalization of visas a reality, following the success of joining NATO.
This is an overall summary of a top level Greek visit. Due to the fact that this visit was organized within an electoral period, it was also targeted by the typical electoral publicity. The only product of this visit is the agreement on the continental shelf. However the fact that such an agreement should have been signed many years ago indicates just how many other problems exist in our relations with our southern neighbor.
