Greece may block Albania’s EU accession

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that in response to the arrest of the representative of the Greek national minority in Albania, Fredi Beleri, Greece may oppose Albania’s entry into the European Union.

The prime minister said this when answering a journalist’s question about how the arrest of a Greek in Himare would affect relations with his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama and with Albania in general. He noted:

“What happened to Fredi Beleri is unacceptable, it is inconceivable that two days before the elections a candidate for mayor, a representative of the Greek national minority, was imprisoned in such a sensitive area as Himara. And I have made it very clear to the Prime Minister of Albania that on this issue we do not accept deviations from either the rule of law or the European path, which requires respect for recognized minorities. To put it more clearly: Albania should know very well that if such a policy continues, it will affect our bilateral relations and Albania’s path to Europe. I am not going to put up with this behavior towards a minority 48 hours before the election.”

Earlier, our publication reported that the Albanian authorities arrested a candidate from the Greek minority for the post of mayor of Himara. Fredi Beleri and two others were arrested by Albanian special forces on Thursday at midnight, two days before the election, on charges of vote buying.

The reaction of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which sent a demarche to the Albanian Foreign Ministry, and a telephone contact between Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and Prime Minister Edi Rama were immediate. The Greek minority organizations in Albania, OMONIA and KEAD, reacted strongly to what they considered an unprecedented attack against Albanian Hellenism.

Greece called the allegations baseless and said that Albania “does not follow the European path.” Tyrana also demanded that Greece not interfere in internal affairs and justice. Mitsotakis expressed his hope that the matter would be resolved as soon as possible:

“This will have a significant impact on Greek-Albanian relations and on the path that Albania wants to take and which we as a country support, the path to the European family.”

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