In what was described as a historic occasion, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ visit to the ethnic Greek minority of Albania, and specifically Himara (Himare), Livadia (Livadhe) and Dervitsani (Dervican), took place on Thursday in an emotional atmosphere.
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias conveyed a very subtle but clear message regarding Albania’s European perspective and the consequences of the undermining role played in the Western Balkans by third parties with a revisionist agenda, such as Turkey, during his visit on Wednesday to Tirana.
The “ethnic Greek minority in Albania … is bridge of friendship between Greece and Albania,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said in Himara.
“We had other plans for this day. The prime minister’s presence would have been a milestone for the Greeks here. We hope it takes place soon, as we’ve been assured,” the mayor of the southeastern Albanian Dropull-Pogon Municipality, Dimitris Tolis, tells Kathimerini just hours after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called […]
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said his talks Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka on Wednesday had focused on accelerating dialogue in Tirana on the basis of the existing political agreement, in order to find a compromise that will allow them to draw up an agreement for referring the issue of delimiting the two countries’ maritime zones and continental shelf for arbitration by the international court at The Hague.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to carry out a planned visit to Himare, Livadhja and Dervician in southern Albania on Thursday, the prime minister’s press office said.
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, who is visiting Tirana on Wednesday, met his Albanian counterpart Olta Xhacka.
The Western Balkans’ path towards the European Union “is a one-way road”, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said following his meeting with his Kosovar counterpart Donika Gervalla-Schwarz in Pristina on Tuesday.
Members of the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania lament their community’s dwindling numbers, saying that unless incentives are given to young people to return to their ancestral villages the community will eventually disappear.
Lying in his cage near a busy Tirana road, Mark the brown bear nibbles listlessly at a pile of bread and lettuce as, just beyond the bars that have kept him captive for more than 20 years, a cat shares in his frugal meal.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed hope on Tuesday that Albania “will do its part” in order to proceed with the signing of the Athens-Tirana agreement for the referral of their dispute concerning the delimitation of the two countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The Western Balkans and Albania belong in the heart of Europe, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Anastasios, Orthodox archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania, in a meeting with the prelate on Tuesday.
Albanian opposition leader Sali Berisha was punched in the face by a male bystander as he led a crowd of his party’s supporters to central Tirana for anti-government protests taking place meters away from the venue of an EU summit.
European Union leaders and their Western Balkan counterparts worked to strengthen their partnership at a summit Tuesday as Russia’s war in Ukraine threatens to reshape the geopolitical balance in the region.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama accused Greece of “cheating” to get into the European Union, just hours before he was due to meet with his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in Tirana.
Albania’s prime minister said Monday that a European Union summit in his country’s capital this week demonstrates the EU’s heightened geostrategic interests in the Western Balkans region during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
