“Today is a very important day for both Europe and Greece, with the opening of Albania and North Macedonia’s accession negotiations with the EU”, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said following the 1st Intergovernmental Conference of the EU with Albania and North Macedonia, held today in Brussels.
In particular, Mr. Varvitsiotis noted that today marks the completion of a cycle that began in Thessaloniki in 2003, when it was decided that the EU would open its doors to the countries of the Western Balkans, emphasizing the importance of expediting these negotiations in order to give substance and completion to key national demands, namely the faithful implementation of the Prespa Agreement and the protection of both national and property rights of the Greek ethnic minority in Albania.
Furthermore, the Alternate Minister stated that it is critical for our country to have neighbours on its northern borders who are members of the European Union, with whom it shares the same principles and values, sits at the same table and has a seamless economic and political relationship. He also said that Greece would support the two Western Balkan countries with all its forces in this difficult, uphill, arduous but beneficial process.
Lastly, Mr. Varvitsiotis personally congratulated the Prime Minister of Albania, Mr. Edi Rama, and the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Mr. Dimitar Kovačevski, on their participation in this milestone conference, while he also thanked the Czech and French Presidencies for their significant contribution to breaking the deadlocks and allowing the 1st Intergovernmental Conference to take place in the framework of the new enlargement process.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic