Albania and Greece decide it’s time to start addressing unresolved issues between the two countries, even if many of them remain thorny subjects.
Tirana Times
After a lengthy cool period of relations between Tirana and Athens, an official visit by the Albanian foreign minister to Greece this week tried to address some key issues affecting the relationships between the two countries – from border demarcation to Cham property claims.
Albanian Foreign Minister Edmond Panariti had a lengthy meeting in Athens with his Greek counterpart Dimitris Avramopoulos, where they decided to have a series of meetings at foreign ministers level נat least twice a year – a clear indications the two countries are now ready to address touchy issues that have been left pending for years.
Some of the talks were aimed at revitalizing what has become a stale relationship, experts say, but other parts of the conversation clearly dealt with with tougher issues that are domestically controversial in Albania.
In addition to solving issues of mutual interest, Greece and Albania both face a tough economic climate and have intertwined business and labor force interests as Greek companies suffer from the economic depression at home and Albanian immigrants are increasingly looking to return to Albania due to the Greek crisis.
Border demarcation high on the agenda
For the Greeks, it is clear that border demarcation was high on the agenda. Ever since Albania’s Constitutional Court voided in early 2010 an agreement reached the prior year between Tirana and Athens over the demarcation of the maritime border, the issue had been suspended. Now it is back on the agenda, driven by economic interests, as Athens and Tirana want to reach a an agreement of clear demarcation of their maritime border in the Ionian Sea so exclusive areas for oil and gas exploration are clearly defined.
“We talked about the bilateral agreement for the determination of the maritime border between the two countries. We agreed that both sides work to overcome the obstacles in this issue, and so we are thinking of having two meetings per year between the foreign ministers. This will help to overcome various problems,” said the Greek foreign minister, Mr. Avramopoulos, at a joint press conference.
Behind closed doors, there were indications Athens pushed pretty hard not to renegotiate the previous agreement which had been canceled by Albania’s constitutional court. Albania insists more negotiations need to take place, and the government is under immense pressure at home over an agreement after it was widely perceived in Albania that the country got a raw deal in the first agreement.
Mr. Panariti called the visit productive but on the issue of the maritime border, the Albanian foreign minister that there will be talks, which will be based on respect for the Albanian constitution and international law.
TAP signing a positive sign for both sides
The intergovernmental agreement for the building of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) gas project that will link Italy, Greece and Albania was signed in New York last week when foreign ministers for all three countries were attending a United Nations meeting.
“Signing TAP pipeline a few days ago in New York gives both countries the opportunity to return to important energy transport junctions. This greatly increases the pipeline of Europe’s energy independence,” Mr. Avramopoulos said at the joint press conference.
The Albanian government sees TAP as the biggest project in the region during the past 20 years, and it has said it is committed to eliminate every kind of bureaucratic burden and property issue so that TAP is built as soon as possible. Italy and Greece have decided to back the TAP project after Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II consortium, led by BP and Statoil, chose TAP and Nabucco West as the two pipelines that would be used to transport gas to Western Europe. In early 2012, Albania’s chances of getting of gas supply from an international pipeline boosted after Shah Deniz, the consortium developing a natural-gas field offshore Azerbaijan, announced it has excluded rival Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy, or TGI.
Cham issue brought up
Albania’s top diplomat, Mr. Panariti, raised the issues of the property of Cham Albanians – a community forcefully expelled from Greece at the end of WWII. It’s and issue that is important in Albania and has lately gotten political prominence as the community’s voting power has been translated in key votes in parliament.
Shpetim Idrizi the head of a party representing Cham interests said Albania’s insistence on this is issue is important.
“I spoke to Mr. Panariti before the meeting, and I’m very happy that this issue has finally been brought up officially,” Mr. Idirizi said to a local newspaper, adding that the fact Cham Albanians born in Greece are routinely denied entry at the Greek border was also part of the discussion.
The Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras said the issue had come up but added Mr. Avramopoulos had responded firmly that the Chams should bring unresolved ownership issues to Greek courts.
Flag incident angers nationalists
The goal of having a spirit of cooperation wasn’t helped by the fact that one of the Albanian flags at a joint news conference was hoisted upside down.
It angered Albanian nationalists as a symbol of Greek authorities looking down on Albania. Other Albanians noted it might just have been amateur hour at the Greek foreign ministry protocol office. Just a few a months ago protocol officials in Brussels put up an Albanian flag with the communist star – the flag of Albania more than two decades ago.
Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos apologized to his Albanian counterpart over the flag incident however. In a phone call, Mr. Avramopoulos expressed regret over the incident, which he considered unpleasant.
Thawing the relationship
Despite what probably were some tough discussions behind closed doors, both Albania and Greece want their relationship to get better in light of the European economic crisis and interests both countries have for good relations.
“With Albania, we are allies in NATO and soon will work together in the EU. The two countries have good neighborly relations. I am here to express my entire country’s will for the continuation of these relations at current levels. The Greek minority in Albania and Albanian immigrants in Greece help in this in regards,” said the Greek foreign minister at the press conference.
In addition Mr. Panariti had a meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias. “Greece is committed to good relations between the two countries,” the Greek president said.
Mr. Paniriti, the first Albanian top official to visit Greece in a long time, agreed with the general spirit that the relationship needs to be intensified, but added issues pending need to be solved.
“The agenda of bilateral relations has also inherited issues that must be dealt with. Solutions need to be found,” Mr. Panariti said.
