Page 44 - bne magazine September 2023

44 I Southeast Europe bne September 2023
minority are not tolerated, not by the Greek government, nor by the European Parliament, and that the European
path for Albania passes through the observance of the rules of the rule of law and the respect of the human rights of all its citizens,” said a statement from New Democracy.
At the end of July, Albania’s Higher Court rejected a request for Beleri to be released from police detention, which his lawyer had argued was disproportionate.
This prompted a response from European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, also of New Democracy, who argued in a letter to EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi that Albania, as an aspiring EU member, must face repercussions if Beleri continues to be barred from assuming office.
Schinas wrote that Beleri's continued incarceration raises serious doubts about the due process and could be interpreted as an effort to intimidate voters. He emphasised that the European Union cannot remain passive in the face of such transgressions and must respond appropriately.
Greece has previous form on using its position as an EU member in its relations with its neighbours. The country formerly known as Macedonia had its attempts to
start EU accession negotiations repeatedly vetoed by Athens, which objected to the use of the name “Macedonia”, which
is also the name of a Greek province.
The issue was eventually resolved when the government in Skopje changed the country’s name to “North Macedonia” in 2019 following the signing of the Prespa Accord in June 2018.
Prior to Beleri’s arrest, Albania and Greece enjoyed relatively good relations thanks to their historic and cultural links, and shared membership of Nato and other international institutions. While thwarting Skopje’s ambitions, Greece has long advocated Albania's
EU candidacy, and Albania eventually secured candidate status during Greece’s presidency of the EU Council in 2014.
Despite their geographic proximity, however, trade between Albania and Greece is relatively low. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama recently described the two countries’ trade exchange as being “less than the value of [footballer] Cristiano Ronaldo”.
There are also some outstanding political issues between the two states – including that they are still formally at war, never having declared an end to the war that started when the Italian occupiers of Albania attacked Greece in 1940.
The rights of the Greek minority within Albania are an issue that even before
Beleri’s arrest had strained Greek- Albanian relations. Issues of conflict include property rights, Greek language education and sporadic violence against the Greek minority.
The so-called “trial of the five” back in 1994 dragged relations between the two countries to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, when five prominent figures from Albania's ethnic Greek community were tried for espionage and illegal possession of weapons.
Tensions re-erupted in 2010 when a group of Albanian youths beat Greek shopkeeper Aristotelis Goumas to death, and again six years later when Albanian nationalists attacked local ethnic Greeks and their property following a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match between Albania and Serbia, during which Serb supporters raised a Greek flag.
This time there have been no apparent moves to back down by Tirana in the face of increasing Greek warnings that Albania’s EU accession process could be affected by Beleri’s continued detention; both Rama and Xhacka have argued that vote-buying is a serious breach
of the law. The next likely step is that Beleri may lose his position as mayor, as his detention has prevented him from carrying out his official duties. That would only worsen the growing crisis between the neighbouring countries.
Top Croatian officials seek to heal relations with Greece after football riots
bne IntelliNews
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic is seeking to mend relations with Athens during a visit to Greece for an informal meeting with regional leaders after mass football riots raised tensions between the two countries.
One Greek football fan was killed in violent clashes between supporters of
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AEK Athens and Dinamo Zagreb on August 7 ahead of a Champions League qualifying match in Athens. More than 100 fans, most of them Croatians, have been charged in connection to the violence.
The case has become politicised as Croatian politicians face pressure from
relatives of those detained in Greece to support them.
Plenkovic is due to attend an informal meeting in Greece to discuss the European integration of Southeast European countries and security amid the war in nearby Ukraine on August 21. He is expected to meet with his Greek