9 minutes agoWhy did the German Chancellor come out in front of Albania in a clash with Greece
Periskopi(2 years ago)
(2 years ago)The Greek newspaper “Kathmerini” has again dedicated an article to the issue of Albania's integration and the obstacle the Hellenic state made to the issue “Beler”. In modern writing (December 15th), the largest Greek newspaper raises the question that “why German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fully supported Albania's membership process despite the Greek blockade for [...]
Greek newspaper “Kathimerini” again has dedicated an article to the issue of Albania's integration and the obstacle the Hellenic state made on the subject “Beller”.
In modern writing (December 15th), the biggest Greek newspaper raises the question that “why German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fully supported Albania's membership process despite the Greek blockade due to the Beler issue?”
According to the Greek newspaper, this support for Albania on the part of Germany “did not fall as lightning for Athens”.
The “Already in recent weeks has reached messages from Berlin and Washington, that Athens should show it is negotiating with Rama. The answer from Athens was the same that a few days ago attached to official EU documents: for Beler to swear, to have a fair trial and to respect his presumption of innocence”, writes Kathimerini.
The newspaper further argues the reasons the German Chancellor chose to express his opposition to Athens so openly.
The first “concerns Albania's own investment in reforming the justice sector and rule of law in the country. The so-called Anti-Corruption Special Prosecutor, which we usually describe briefly with the SPAK initials and which has not given Frede Beler permission to take the oath, is in fact a body formed with Anglo-Saxon knowledge and German financing and support.
Prosecutors have been trained at the FBI Academy in the US, but also at the United Kingdom Home Office in London. For Americans and Germans alike, SPAK is the most successful example of reform in the Western Balkans, nor do they realize that it can become a political exploitation tool that mainly highlights Western gullibility for the situation in Albania.
The second reason for disagreements from Berlin is less technical and more political. Germany had already expressed its dissatisfaction last August when Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis gathered in Athens Western Balkans Summit With the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but without Eddie Rama. Several weeks later in Tirana, the meeting of the Berlin “Process” and the German Foreign Ministry perceived the successful initiative.
A major reason, which also shows the often hasty effort of German diplomacy to adapt, is the situation in the Western Balkans after February 2022 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Germany, which had been reluctant until then, was firmly transferred to the camp of those who want a quick and immediate integration and without many conditions of Albania and Northern Macedonia into the EU.
Experienced observers remembered that the two consecutive foreign ministers, Nikos Kotzias and later Nikos Dendias, in various cases, explained to Germans, French and Dutch why it is essential to advance the membership process for Albania and Northern Macedonia, while Paris, Berlin and The Hague were discussing additional conditions.
On the Albanian side, however, only at the rhetorical level are kept ours low. The other day, at the press conference in Brussels, Rama named Mitsotakis friend and stressed that the Beler case is something that can be resolved bilaterally and not through the EU”, close article “Kathmerini” /tema/
