Greece to block Albania’s EU integration
The opening of negotiations for Albania’s EU membership will have to wait. This because Greece is determined to block the process by lobbying against Albania’s EU integration. Greek media say that at the summit of EU foreign ministers, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias made European counterparts known to Greek “veto” to open accession negotiations with Albania. According to him, this is related to the problems of respecting property rights for the Greek minority in Albania.
Kotzi’s stance is due to the new urban planning in Himara, which was approved by the City Council among the objections of a group of Greek minority residents. Speaking to reporters after the summit was closed, the Greek Foreign Minister said:
“I emphasize that human rights issues should not be used selectively and presented a number of examples of how it has been abused. In the context of our presence here, I also had discussions with a number of Ministers and Commissioners, where I have made very clear the conditions that some of these candidate countries must meet to start membership negotiations. “
A few days ago, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos at a dinner with French counterpart Emanuel Macron issued a clear message for Tirana and Skopje. He said that the violation of minority rights undermined their European path. Greek media alluded that Paris has provided its support for Athens ./ABC News