Albania made a new start in its accession perspective with the second intergovernmental conference after the unfreezing of the procedures put on hold while MEP Fredis Beleri remained in jail.

With clear references to the protection of minorities and minority property rights that satisfy Athens, Tirana will have to stick to what’s been agreed or see the process held up again.

As Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis noted on arriving at the meeting in Luxembourg: “Our position is that the first set of chapters, which is being opened today and concerns fundamental rights and the rule of law, should include both the rights of minorities, including the Greek ethnic minority, and in particular their property rights. Indeed, this position is now a common position, a documented common position of the 27 Member States of the European Union.”

The shared EU position underscores that “in accordance with the chapters of the Rule of Law Roadmap, cadastral maps must be digitized and an effective and transparent property registration system, offering clear and secure property titles, must be established by 2030”.

With regard to minority rights, reference is made to the adoption of the statutes on self-identification and other rights, including using minority languages with administrative bodies and public authorities, as provided for in the Rule of Law Roadmap and in accordance with European standards, as well as to enhancing the authorities’ capacity to implement the above via, among other things, the Committee on National Minorities and the resources allotted to it.

For his part, having spoken of a historic day for Albania, the Albanian Prime Minister went on to ‘attribute’ the acceleration of the accession process to Vladimir Putin.
“Unfortunately, it has to be said that it was thanks to Vladimir Putin that this process has been sped up—his aggression in Ukraine acted as a wake-up call which reminded Europe that the illusion of self-sufficiency is just that: an illusion.”

Turning to North Macedonia, today saw the official decoupling of its European perspective from Albania’s. Skopje cannot proceed with the accession process as long as the country’s Constitution fails to reference the nation’s Bulgarian minority.

At the press conference in Luxembourg, Edi Rama referred to both his Greek friends and to Alexander the Great, as well as to the steps the EU is taking with regard to the candidate countries:
“Blocking “Macedonia”, what later became North Macedonia, and we can only hope there will be no South Macedonia to do this, too, does an enormous disservice to a nation. It does a lot of harm to the people, and it does a lot of harm to the region.”
“I love Alexander the Great, we all do, but I don’t care where he was born and I don’t pretend that, as an Albanian, I have inherited his genes. We already have a lot of Albanians who insist Napoleon was Albanian. Would you like us to start a feud with France over this? Because that would be followed by a feud over Corsica. And it would never end. You know, Einstein was Albanian. I mean, what do we have to do? Because right at the end, it always gets blocked,” he added. He went on to tell the EU to: “Let countries grow, let countries get on with their business, let countries build institutions”.
“But not when countries need the know how, when they need the help, when they need the support, because then you have a country which, 28 years ago, was an undisputed member of the Euro-Atlantic community, and look who the best-loved politician is now in Macedonia, North Macedonia or whatever… Because I don’t want to receive a phone call from my Greek friends telling me ‘You said Macedonia.’ No. It’s North Macedonia.”