Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Cristo in Athens on Monday at the Maximos Mansion as part of international contacts, against the backdrop of the informal conference on the Balkans organised by Athens, with a dinner tonight at the Grande Bretagne Hotel.

It will be attended by a number of Balkan leaders, European Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, with Greece playing a dominant role in the Balkan region, and in the debate on the European future of the wider region.

Before the dinner scheduled for tonight at 20:15 with the leaders and heads of the European institutions on enlargement and the European future of the region, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the EU-EU Summit in Brussels, the European Commission and the European Parliament will discuss the future of the region.

According to reports, bilateral relations and Greece’s support for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s next steps towards its European perspective were discussed during the meeting.

The Prime Minister’s schedule, after the meeting with the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, states that at 13:00 there will be a meeting with the Prime Minister of Romania, Ion-Marcel Ciolacu, at 13:00 with the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, at 15:00.

The Balkan dinner and surprise guest

A surprise guest of the evening appears to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose arrival has been kept a top secret by Athens. Zelensky is on a European tour these days, having visited Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands, while the Maximos Mansion has not included Zelensky’s name among the participants of the informal conference, nor in the Prime Minister’s bilateral meetings. However, Zelensky rarely announces his appearances, hence there has been no official announcement. At the same time, it is believed that Mitsotakis and Zelensky will meet in person if the Ukrainian leader is in Greece.

As things stand at the moment, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatovic, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, and the President of the Republic of Serbia will be present this evening. Dimitar Kovacevski of Macedonia, Albin Kurti of Kosovo, the President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Cristo, and the President of Moldova Maya Sandu will also attend. The debate will also be attended by the leaders of the countries of the region that are members of the EU, namely Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov of Bulgaria, Andrei Plenković of Croatia, and Ion-Marcel Ciolaku of Romania.

Albania will not attend in any capacity, which clearly reflects the “ice” in Greek-Albanian relations, following the imprisonment of the mayor of Himara, Fredi Beleri. The Greek government attempted o bypass the ‘awkward’ situation by sending an invitation to the office of Albanian President Bairam Begay, who declined and so the neighbour will not participate. It is obvious, however, that after the “spring” of the previous years, culminating in the prospect of a Hague deal, relations between Athens and Tirana are at a “barometric low”.

On the other hand, the presence of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in Athens is of particular importance in view of the circumstances, as he will also cross the threshold of the Prime Minister’s Office at 15:00 for a one-to-one meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with whom he is linked by personal friendship. It is known that Athens and Zagreb “walked on thin ice” after the inflammatory statements by President Milanovic, however, Mitsotakis and Plenkovic tried to handle the situation with political tact. Plenkovic has not questioned the judgment of the Greek judiciary, but he is of the opinion that the majority of those arrested should be deported.